-n  ^ 

o       •'■ 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES 


DECEASED  PHYSICIANS 


OF 


WESTCHESTER  COUNTY,  N.  Y. 


BEING    THE    ANNUAL   ADDRESS   BEFORE   THE   WESTCHESTER   COUNTY    MEDICAL 
SOCIETY,    AT   ITS    SESSION    HELD    IN    WHITE    PLAINS,  JUNE  1,   1858. 


By  GEORGE  J., FISHER,  A.M.,  M.D., 


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I'RKSioKMT  OP  Tiis  Whstcubster  Coc.vty  Meuical  Socictv;  Pkkmaxe.vt  Member  op  ths  Aubbican 

Medical  AssoaATioN;  Pebmankxt  ^Iekber  op  the  Medical  Sociiitt  of  thb  Statb  of 

Nbw  York;  Fellow  of  thb  New  York  Academy  of  Mkdictne;  AIember  of 

THE  New  York  Lyceum  of  Natuiul  Histort,  kc. 


Published    by    Order    of  the    Society. 


NEW  YORK: 

HALL,  CLAYTON  &  CO.,  PRINTERS,  4C  PINE  STREET. 
1861. 


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fSoob 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCHES. 


Gentlemen — Members   of   the  Westchester  County  Medical   So- 
ciety: 

I  propose  as  the  subject  of  my  address  on  the  present  occasion,  a 
few  brief  and  imperfect  Biographical  Sketches  of  the  Deceased  Mem- 
bers of  tlie  Medical  Profession  of  Westchester  County. 

Although  medicine,  in  its  history,  its  ethics,  its  relations  to  other  and 
collateral  sciences,  offers  a  wide  range  from  which  to  select  a  subject, 
the  task  of  choosing  one  which  has  not  already  been  treated  upon  has 
not  been  easy. 

Having  at  last  determined  on  that  which  I  have  just  announced,  as 
being  one  never  before  attempted  in  this  County,  I  have  hoped  to  be 
able  to  interest  you  for  a  brief  hour,  and  at  the  same  time,  to  place  on 
record  "the  plain,  uuvaruished  tale"  of  the  character,  merits,  trials, 
and  experience  of  those  medical  men  who  have  previously  been  the  in- 
cumbents of  the  field  which  vre  now  occupy. 

How  frequently  are  we  reminded,  when  called  to  the  families  of  the 
older  inhaljitants,  of  those  who,  years  long  passed,  visited  the  same 
houses  upon  a  like  errand  of  mercy  as  ourselvcsl  How  many  hours 
have  we  spent  in  listening  to  detailed  accounts  of  the  many  virtues 
and  the  wonderful  skill  of  those  good  old  doctors,  who  were  always 
looked  to  for  aid  in  the  day  of  anxiety,  tribulation,  or  peril  1  We  have 
been  told  how  they  rode  on  horseback,  with  their  apothecary-shop 
sn/igly  packed  in  huge  leathern  saddle-bags,  which  hung  over  their 
horse's  back  behind  them;  how  promptly  they  responded  to  a  call, 
though  "  in  the  dead  waste  and  middle  of  the  night;"  how  cheerfully 
they  came;  how  patiently  they  remained,  to  watch  their  patients  and 
witness  the  effects  of  their  remedies. 

As  we  have  listened  to  these  kind  reminiscences  of  our  elder  breth- 
ren, who  has  not  felt  a  strong  desire  to  know  more  of  their  birth,  edu- 
cation, and  medical  pupilage,  as  well  as  their  social,  moral,  intellectual 


and  professional  cliaracter  ?  But,  alas!  how  little  is  known  of  tliem 
They  liave  expended  their  days,  their  talents  and  skill,  quietly  and  un- 
ostentatiously among  those  who  doubtless  appreciated  their  services 
while  living,  and  sincerely  mourned  their  loss  when  dead. 

"  Far  from  the  luadd'ning  crowd's  ignoble  strife, 
Their  sober  wishes  never  learned  to  stray; 
Along  the  cool  sequestered  vale  of  life, 

They  kept  the  noiseless  tenor  of  their  way." 

Their  mortal  remains  and  biography  have  been  consigned  to  one 
common  grave.  Of  many,  not  even  the  place  of  their  interment  if! 
known ;  while  in  a  few  instances, 

"  these  bones  from  insult  to  protect, 


Some  frail  memorial  still,  erected  nigh, 
With  uncouth  rhymes  and  shapeless  sculpture  deck'd, 
Implores  the  tribute  of  a  sigh." 

"  Their  name,  their  years,  spelt  by  th'  unlettered  muse, 
The  place  of  fame  and  elegy  supply." 

Their  memories  are  treasured  for  a  Ijrief  period  by  their  land  jiatrons, 
but  the  second  generation  barely  remember  their  names,  and  soon  tliey 
pass  into  oblivion. 

While  it  becomes  our  duty  to  be  ever  contending  with  disease,  and 
ever  vigilant  to  avert  the  shafts  of  death,  so  thickly  strewn  on  every 
liand,  all  along  the  voyage  of  life — from  the  cradle  to  the  grave — yet 
all,  patient  and  physician,  sooner  or  later,  must  yield  to  the  uucon- 
quered,  and  "depart  alike  to  the  inevita))le  grave." 

"  Who,  to  dumb  forgclfulncf-s  a  prey, 

This  pleasing,  anxious  being  e'er  I'csigncd; 
Left  the  warm  precincts  of  the  cheerful  day, 
Nor  cast  one  longing,  lingering  look  behind  ?" 

I  hope  we  are  all  inspired  l)y  an  ambition  so  to  live,  to  improve 
ourselves,  and  benefit  our  race,  that  our  memories  may  be  thought 
worthy  of  record  and  preservation. 

I  entered  u})on  tlic  present  undertaking,  which,  at  the  commeuce- 
ment,  was  supposed  to  be  an  easy  one,  but  which  soon  proved  to  be 
quite  the  reverse,  both  from  a  long-cherished  ]ileasure  which  the  biog- 
raphy of  medical  men  has  afforded  me,  and  still  more,  as  a  labor  of 
love  towards  those  who  have  resigned  their  responsibilities  and  their 
places  into  our  hands,  that  we  may  continue  where  their  labor  ceased, 


and  ill  turn,  transmit  to  a  succeeding  generation  the  accumulated  stores 
of  past  experience. 

Gladly  would  I  have  had  another  perform  this  task;  yet  as  none 
up  to  the  present  time  have  found  either  the  leisure  or  inclination  to 
undertake  and  accomplish  a  biographical  memoir  of  the  deceased  phy- 
sicians of  our  county,  I  felt  it  almost  a  (\^ty  to  be  thus  "  mindful  of 
the  unhonored  dead." 

I  have  not  been  able  to  find  a  single  sketch  of  a  member  of  our  So- 
ciety among  its  records,  nor  even  in  any  medical  journal,  book,  or 
pamphlet,  notwithstanding  it  is  more  than  sixty  years  since  our  organi- 
zation; yet  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  so  many  years  could  have  roll- 
ed away  without  some  worthy  members  of  the  profession  having  been 
called  from  their  earthly  spheres  of  usefulness,  whose  character,  devo- 
tion, and  skill  merited  a  brief  memoir.  Our  county — one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  honorable  in  the  State,  famous  for  its  localities  of  interest,  ren- 
dering it  classic  ground  to  every  American,  and  boasting  of  such  men 
as  Paulding,  Williams,  and  A^an  Wart,  John  Jay,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins, 
Washington  Irving,  and  other  celebrities — certainly  should  have 
possessed  some  physicians  worthy  of  mention.  True,  the  life  of  a 
medical  man  is  in  a  measure  obscure;  he  is  not  brought  before 
the  masses;  there  is  no  forum  or  pulpit  for  our  profession  to  develop 
and  display  the  talents  of  its  votaries;  they  quietly  and  unobserved 
pursue  the  objects  of  their  calling,  minister  to  the  afflicted,  from  birth 
to  extreme  old  age,  explore  all  nature  in  search  of  still  better  remedial 
agents,  exhaust  all  art  with  the  same  great  purpose  in  view,  investi- 
gate untiringly  the  occult  and  secret  nature  and  sources  of  the  thou- 
sand ills  that  our  poor  mortality  is  heir  to,  and  yet — 

"  Far  off  the  public  stage, 
Pass  away  their  silent  age.'' 

There  have  been  in  our  county  medical  men  whose  education,  char- 
acter, and  skill,  and  whose  devotion  to  the  cause  of  science  and  the  in- 
terests of  humanity,  though  perhaps  exercised  in  a  more  humble  sphere, 
nevertheless  deserve  at  our  hands  "some  frail  memorial"  of  commen- 
dation and  perpetuation. 

We  should  I'emember  that  our  whole  duty  is  not  performed  when 
the  dead  are  "each  in  their  narrow  cells  forever  laid;"  obligations  still 
rest  upon  us;  the  living  owe  a  duty  to  those  who  have  waived  them  a 
final  adieu,  as  they  left  the  shores  of  time,  as  well  as  to  the  genera- 
tions yet  unborn. 

In  preparing  the  following  sketches,  I  have  endeavored  to  apply  to 


reliable  sources  for  information,  involving  no  trifling  amount  of  corre- 
Kpoudence,  and  I  desire  here  to  acknowledge  my  obligations  and  return 
my  sincere  thanks  to  all  who  have  interested  themselves  in  this  work 
of  fraternal  affection,  by  responding  to  the  circular  of  inquiries  address- 
ed to  them ;  while  I  regret  that  many,  from  whom  much  w^as  expected, 
have  failed  to  answer;  yet  they  must  be  charital)ly  excused,  as  the 
multifarious  duties,  both  professional  and  domestic,  and  the  difficulties 
of  obtaining  the  required  information,  w^ould  deter  most  men  fi'om  the 
imdcrtaking,  unless  impelled  by  a  spirit  of  enthusiasm. 

Meagre  and  unsatisfactory  as  many  of  the  sketches  are,  yet  it  is 
hoped  that,  at  least  to  every  physician  of  our  own  county,  these  brief 
memoirs  will  be  of  interest.  Should  any  be  able  to  add  material  of 
interest  to  any  or  all  of  them,  I  hope  he  will  not  delay  nor  hesitate  to 
do  so;  or  Avhat  would  be  still  better,  to  commence  the  work  de  novo. 
In  many  cases  the  words  of  the  correspondents  have  been  employed,  as 
nothing  additional  could  he  obtained,  or  the  sketches  in  any  way  im- 
proved. 

Unfortunately  the  records  of  the  "Westchester  County  Medical  Socie- 
ty, from  its  organization.  May  8th,  1*I9T,  to  June,  1830,  have  been 
lost  or  destroyed,  on  which  account,  doubtless,  many  of  the  names  of 
its  earlier  members  have  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  writer; 
and  perhaps,  for  the  same  reason,  many  interesting  professional  facts 
connected  with  the  lives  of  those  that  are  included  in  these  memoirs. 

AVhat  has  here  been  attempted  for  ours,  has  been  ably  done  for 
Albany  County,  by  my  friend  Dr.  S.  D.  Willard,  in  an  address  before 
the  Medical  Society  of  that  county,  which  was  suljscquontly  comnumi- 
cated  l)y  it  to  the  State  Medical  Society,  in  the  Transactions  of 
whicli,  for  1857,  it  was  published.  The  same  thing  has  been  done  by 
Dr.  S.  11.  French,  for  Broome  County,  in  an  address  in  1854,  publish- 
ed by  that  County  Medical  Society.  The  biographical  sketches  of  Dr. 
French,  however,  included  those  who  were  then  engaged  in  practice  in 
Broome  County,  an  undertaking  of  too  delicate  a  character  to  justify 
many  in  the  attempt. 

"Tlie  life  of  a  good  physician,"  says  Dr.  Delafield,  in  his  sketch  of 
the  lati;  Dr.  J.  Kearney  llodgers,  "does  not  always  furnish  materials 
most  availal)le  to  the  biograjther.  lie  may  have  ])racticed  long  and 
successfully;  may  have  formed  a  large  circle  of  deeply  attached  friends 
and  patients;  may  have  been  ))eloved  and  honored  by  the  poor;  have 
gained  the  respect  and  esteem  of  every  member  of  liis  own  profession; 
have  added  his  fair  proportion  to  the  imi)rovements  of  the  day,  in  his 
science  and  Iiis  art;  and  in  dying,  left  a  whole  community  to  deplore 


his  loss,  tmd  feci,  for  tlio  time,  that  his  j)lace  could  not  be  supplied; 
and  yet  leave  behind  him  no  materials  from  which  a  biography  could 
be  drawn  up  of  deep  interest  beyond  his  own  profession,  and  the  circle 
of  patients  amonp;  whom  he  moved." 

"  It  is  men  of  this  stamp  who  leave  behind  them  the  regret  that  they 
have  left  no  written  memorial  of  what  they  have  learned  and  what 
they  have  accomplished.  And  it  always  must  be  so.  The  practicing 
physician  who  moves  most  among  the  sick,  and  is  most  esteemed  during 
his  lifetime,  has  little  leisure  to  write.  The  labors  of  a  long  day  in 
country  or  town,  with  the  cares  and  anxieties  caused  by  attendance  on 
numerous  cases  involving  danger  and  often  death,  are  no  good  prepara- 
tion for  the  use  of  the  pen  at  night.  And  every  day  do  such  men  see 
and  learn  many  things  they  would  be  glad  to  contribute  to  the  com- 
mon stock  of  their  profession's  knowledge;  but  it  cannot  be.  They 
go  on,  day  after  day,  and  year  after  year,  learning  more  and  knowing 
more,  until  they  begin  to  feel  that  they  have  somewhat  mastered  the 
diflBculties  of  their  science;  have  somewhat  learned  what  to  discard 
among  rules  of  art  handed  down  from  ages,  and  what  to  retain ;  have 
even  felt  that  they  themselves  have  added  something  to  the  great  pro- 
fessional treasury ;  they  drop  into  the  grave,  and  carry  all  with  them." 


Dr.  ARCHIBALD  MACDONALD,  of  White  Plains,  will  first 
claim  our  attention,  as  being  one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
earlier  physicians  of  our  county,  of  whom  we  have  been  able  to  obtain 
any  satisfactory  account;  but  more  especially  from  the  fact  of  his  having 
been  prominent  among  the  founders  of  this  Medical  Society,  now  in  the 
sixty-first  year  of  its  age. 

In  the  first  volume  of  the  Medical  Bcpository,  which  was  the  first 
medical  journal  ever  published  in  America,  under  date  of  June  25th, 
1797,  may  be  found  the  following  notice: 

"  On  the  8th  of  May,  at  the  White  Plains,  there  was  a  meeting  of 
respectable  physicians  of  the  County  of  Westchester,  who  formed  them- 
selves into  a  society,  to  Ijc  known  and  called  by  the  name  and  style  of 
'  T/ie  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  Westchester:  Dr.  Archibald 
Macdonald  was  elected  President,  and  Dr.  INIatsoii  Smith,  of  Xcw  Ilo- 
chelle.  Secretary.  The  principal  views  of  their  formation  appear  to  be 
a  harmonious  establishment  of  a  regular  practice  of  physic  through- 
out the  county,  and  an  imuiediute  compliance  of  the  law  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State,  made  at  the  last  session." 


8 

Dr.  Archibald  Macdouald  (not  McDonald)  was  a  native  of  Inver- 
ness, in  Scotland,  and  belonged  to  what  was  called  the  Glengarry 
branch  of  the  Macdonalds.  The  Glengarries  write  their  name  Mac- 
donell,  but  the  Dr.,  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  adopted  the  orthography 
generally  used  by  the  other  Macdonald  families. 

When  the  Stuarts,  in  1745,  made  their  last  attempt  to  recover  the 
crown,  the  doctor's  father  joined  Charles  Edward,  the  prentender,  with 
enthusiasm,  and  during  that  or  the  following  year  perished  in  battle, 
when  his  son  Archibald  was  but  a  few  weeks  old;  so  the  parent  and 
his  youngest  chUd  never  saw  each  other. 

Archibald  came  to  this  country  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  being 
about  the  year  1757.  He  lived  for  a  while  in  Canada,  and  received 
his  medical  education  in  Philadelphia,  to  which  place  he  was  sent  by 
his  brother,  an  officer  in  the  British  service.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  practiced  his  profession  in  North  Carolina;  he  also  served  several 
years  as  a  surgeon  in  the  British  army. 

In  the  year  1787,  he  married  in  Dutchess  County,  in  this  State,  and 
continued  to  reside  there  for  several  years,  and  finally,  in  the  year  1795, 
settled  at  White  Plains,  where  he  practiced  his  profession  down  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  21st  day  of  December,  1813. 
The  place  of  his  sepulchre  is  designated  by  a  tombstone  in  the  cemetery 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  that  village. 

He  died  after  three  or  four  days'  illness,  of  what  was  then  usually 
termed  "the  winter  fever,"  an  epidemic  said  at  the  time  to  be  fatal 
among  persons  advanced  in  life,  being,  at  the  time  of  his  decease,  sixty- 
eight  years  of  age. 

From  a  genealogical  manuscript  in  the  handwriting  of  his  brother, 
it  appears  that  he  was  a  descendant  of  Robert  de  Bruce;  one  of  his 
ancestors  having  married  a  daughter  of  that  monarch. 

His  manner  and  disposition  were  hearty,  frank  and  joyous,  but  his 
temper  was  quick  and  irritable;  it  is  proper  to  add,  that  he  was  a  man 
of  remarkable  personal  courage. 

Of  his  professional  rop\itatioii,  we  are  informed  that  he  occupied  a 
high  standing,  both  with  the  people  and  his  brethren.  Ilis  practice 
was  extensive,  and  he  was  often  called  on  consultations  or  otherwise, 
to  great  distances.  Like  most  i>hysicians,  in  his  own  family  he  gave 
very  little  medicine,  and  even  in  his  general  practice  he  employed  much 
less  medicine  than  physicians  usually  did  in  those  days;  frequently  pre- 
scribing gentle  remedies,  more  for  the  encouragement  of  the  patient, 
than  what  he  deemed  the  necessity  of  the  case.     Long  after  his  death, 


9 

his  old  patients  would  remark  that  his  cheerful  and  assuring  worda 
seemed  at  once  to  bring  relief,  and  half  to  perforin  the  cure. 

His  son,  James  Macdonald,  studied  medicine  first  with  Dr.  David 
Palmer,  of  White  Plains,  and  afterwards  with  the  celebrated  Dr.  David 
Hosack,  of  New  York.  Dr.  James  Macdonald  turned  his  attention 
chiefly  to  the  study  of  insanity;  visited  Europe,  and  all  its  establish- 
ments for  the  cure  of  the  insane,  and  returning  to  this  country,  became 
one  of  the  founders  and  proprietors  of  the  Sanford  Hall  Asylum,  at 
Flushing,  L.  I.  He  died,  much  lamented,  in  the  year  1849.  Several 
biographical  sketches  of  him  have  been  published;  one  of  considerable 
length  in  the  American  Journal  of  Insanity,  \\\  the  July  number  for 
1849;  and  also  a  sermon  by  Rev.  Dr.  Ogilby,  on  his  funeral  occasion. 
His  brother,  Allen  Macdonald,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  many  of  the 
above  facts,  continues  the  charge  of  the  asylum  alluded  to. 


Dr.  SAMUEL  ADAMS,  of  Mount  Pleasant,  was  born  in  Scotland; 
he  came  to  this  country  about  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution, 
having  been  a  surgeon  in  the  British  army.  In  a  communication  from 
Mr.  Allen  Macdonald,  he  states  that  his  "  brother  remembered  to 
have  heard  both  his  father  and  the  late  Col.  Rutgers,  of  New  York, 
speak  of  him  as  a  surgeon  in  the  American  Revolutionary  army,  and 
say  that  he  was  present  as  such  at  the  memorable  battle  of  White 
Plains."  Also  that  his  father,  Dr.  Archibald  Macdonald,  spoke  of  him 
as  a  good  Latin  scholar,  having  been  a  classical  teacher  before  coming  to 
this  country,  and  that  he  had  read  extensively  on  anatomy  and  surgery. 
He  is  spoken  of  as  a  small,  thin  person,  of  rather  a  severe  aspect;  a 
man  of  great  energy,  indomitable  will,  and  unflinching  perseverance, 
highly  passionate  and  profane,  having  no  regard  for  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. 

Soon  after  the  war,  he  settled  about  one  and  a  half  miles  east  of  the 
upper  cross-roads,  where  he  cultivated  a  farm  and  practiced  his  profes- 
sion for  nearly  or  quite  a  half-century. 

His  medical  education  was  doubtless  superior  for  the  period  in  which 
he  lived.  His  habits,  which  he  probably  acquired  while  in  the  army 
and  in  war,  gave  him  the  sobriquet  of  "  the  rough  old  surgeon." 

Such  was  his  supposed  skill  in  surgery,  that  if  a  broken  bone  was 
to  be  set,  or  any  operation  to  be  performed,  he  must  necessarily  be  sent 
for,  from  all  parts  of  the  county;  and  when  sent  for,  tradition  says, 
however  well  the  work  may  have  been  done  previous  to  his  arrival,  he 


10 

would  find  some  deficiency,  and  if  possible  do  it  over  again,  secundum 
artcm,  readjusting  a  fractured  bone,  or  opening  afresh  a  wound,  and 
generally  do  it  with  the  emphasis  of  an  oath. 

He  was  a  bold,  rough,  yet  successful  surgeon.  It  is  said  that  espe- 
cially in  the  latter  part  of  his  practice,  his  instruments,  like  himself, 
becoming  old,  were  rusty  and  dull,  and  though  he  seldom  followed 
Bible  precepts,  he  was  obliged  to  adopt  the  advice  of  Solomon,  viz.: 
"  That  if  the  tool  be  dull,  lay  on  the  more  strength."  Undoubtedly 
most  of  his  cutting  operations  would  be  properly  denominated  "heroic 
practice."  So  he  lived  and  rode  over  the  country,  and  over  his  cotem- 
poraries,  swaying  his  sceptre  over  the  heads  of  all  with  whom  he  came 
in  contact.  He  was  sent  at  least  for  one  term  to  the  Legislature  of 
the  State,  and  died  about  the  year  1828,  aged  over  ninety  years. 

The  late  Dr.  Joseph  Scribner  was  in  the  habit  of  relating  the  cir- 
cumstance of  his  first  interview  with  Dr.  Adams,  as  being  perfectly 
characteristic  of  the  man.  Overtaking  him  on  horseback,  one  day, 
after  mutual  salutation,  and  making  himself  known  as  Dr.  Scribner,  the 
eccentric  Dr.  Adams  scanned  him  with  a  penetrating  glance,  and  said 
with  a  sneer,  "  Young  man,  do  you  intend  to  practice  medicine  ?  Well — 
you'll  find  it  a  dom  mean  business;"  and  putting  spurs  to  his  horse, 
rode  rapidly  away. 

Dr.  Adams  was  very  erect  and  vsprightly;  when  90  years  old,  he 
rode  on  horseback  as  gracefully  as  a  youth.  lie  lived  without  God 
in  the  world,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  died  without  reconciliation  to  that 
God  whom  he  had  neglected,  if  not  despised,  in  his  life. 


Dr.  WILLIAM  F.  ARNOLD,  of  White  Plains,  was  born  in  Chat- 
ham, Rensselaer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  June  1st,  1809.  He  was  the  son  of  a  very 
respectable  Methodist  minister,  whose  brother,  Samuel  G.  Arnold,  was 
for  a  num))cr  of  years  editor  and  proprietor  of  "  The  Wcstchcdcr  Spy," 
published  at  White  Plains. 

William's  early  op[)ortunities  for  education  were  very  limited  and 
irregular,  in  consequence  of  the  itinerant  character  of  his  father's  pro- 
fession; at  the  age  of  fourteen  he  removed  to  Rhinebeck,  where,  by  the 
special  efforts  of  liis  sister  and  friends,  he  enjoyed  the  advantages  for  a 
time  of  a  good  classical  school.  Soon  after  he  entered  the  drug-store 
of  Drs.  Piatt  and  Nelson  of  that  place.  By  attention  to  business,  and 
the  interest  he  manifested  in  the  articles  of  the  Materia  Medica  with 
which  he  was  surrounded,  he  gained  the  respect  and  esteem  of  his  era- 


11 

ployers,  and  was  taken  into  tlieir  odit-c  as  a  medical  student.  In  1829, 
through  the  kindness  and  aid  of  his  friends,  he  was  enabled  tu  attend 
a  course  of  lectures  in  the  Rutgers  Medical  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York.  Durhig  this  term,  it  is  said,  he  devoted  his  entire  tiiiie  and 
energies  to  the  })rosecution  of  his  studies.  It  is  not  known  to  us 
whether  he  afterwards  graduated,  or  became  a  licentiate  of  the  State, 
or  some  county  medical  society. 

About  this  thne  (1829)  he  located  in  White  Plains,  almost  penni- 
less; he  soon,  however,  entered  into  a  fair  })ractice.  In  May,  1832,  he 
married  a  Miss  Williams,  of  llhinebeck.  A  few  months  after,  while 
apparently  in  the  glow  of  health,  and  full  of  ambitious  schemes  and 
bright  hoi)CS,  he  was  attacked  with  luvmoptysis,  which  recurring  again 
and  again  as  winter  approached,  induced  him  to  remove  to  the  City 
of  New  York,  with  the  hope  that  the  duties  of  his  profession  could  be 
performed  with  less  physical  exertion  and  exposure.  Finding  his  ex- 
pectations not  realized,  and  being  oppressed  by  debt,  he  returned  to 
White  Plains  and  resumed  an  office  practice  in  connection  with  an 
apothecary-shop,  with  his  brother.  This  was  a  more  successful  enter- 
prise; his  health  and  (inanccs  were  both  improved  thereby.  In  the 
autumn  of  1834  his  disease  had  so  far  returned  or  progressed,  that  it 
became  ai)parent,  unless  a  change  of  climate  might  stay  its  develoi)meut, 
consumption  was  inevitable.  He  accordingly  embarked  for  St.  Tiiomas, 
W.  I.,  where  he  safely  arrived,  and  entered  into  the  practice  of  den- 
tistry, being  unable  to  practice  medicine.  In  the  course  of  a  year  or 
two  his  disease  had  so  far  advanced  that  he  resolved  to  return  again 
to  his  native  land  and  home.  He  died  on  the  voyage;  his  grave  is 
the  mighty  deep. 

His  disposition  was  remarkably  social  and  confiding;  his  character 
and  life  that  of  a  devout  and  humble  Christian;  thus  he  lived  and 
died.  Dr.  Arnold  was  devoted  to  his  profession,  and  from  all  we  can 
learn  of  his  talents  and  acquirements,  under  anything  like  favorable 
circumstances,  he  would  have  1)ccome  eminent. 


Dr.  FRANCIS  FOWLER  practiced  in  White  Plains  and  vicinity 
about  lifty  or  sixty  years  ago.  He  came  from  Ncwburgh,  Orange 
County,  N.  Y.,  and  soon  after  his  arrival  married  a  sister  of  ex-Sheriff 
Amos  W.  Hatfield,  of  White  Plains.  His  talents  and  practice  are 
said  to  have  been  respectable,  and  gave  promise  of  good  success;  but 
in  a  few  years  after  settling  in  White  Plains  (from  four  to  six)  he 
died,  leaving  a  widow,  but  no  children. 


12 

Dr.  BREWSTER,  also,  practiced  in  White  Plains  previous  to  or 
about  the  time  of  Dr.  Fowler,  but  I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  any 
special  information  relating  to  his  life  and  character. 


Dr.  WILLIAM  BALDWIN,  late  of  New  York  City,  hes  be- 
neath a  large,  plain,  but  handsome  monument,  in  the  yard  of  the  first 
or  old  Methodist  Church,  of  White  Plains.  He  was  born  in  North- 
ford,  Connecticut.  Commenced  practice  about  the  year  1800.  Mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Falconer,  daughter  of  John  Falconer,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  White  Plains,  where  he  practiced  with  considerable  success 
and  acceptance  for  a  period  of  about  fifteen  years.  He  then  removed 
to  the  City  of  New  York,  and  located  himself  in  East  Broadway;  be- 
came a  prominent  and  successful  practitioner  in  that  section  of  the 
city,  and  gained  a  more  than  ordinary  practice  and  honorable  position 
among  his  professional  brethren.  He  died  of  a  chronic  organic  dis- 
ease of  the  stomach.  He  left  a  widow,  but  no  children.  She  is  yet 
living,  and  finds  a  pleasant  home  with  Dr.  Jared  Liusly,  of  New 
York,  who  was  an  adopted  son  of  Dr.  Baldwin. 


Dr.  LIVINGSTON  ROE,  of  White  Plains,  was  born  at  or  near 
Flushing,  Long  Island,  N.  Y.,  in  the  year  1811.  He  was  the  son  of 
Thomas  Roe.  Dr.  L.  Roe  was  carefully  educated  by  a  German 
teacher;  he  pursued  his  medical  studies  with  Dr.  John  Graham,  a  re- 
spectable physician  in  the  City  of  New  York.  Dr.  G.  was  known  to 
the  profession  of  his  day  as  the  first,  or  at  least  among  the  first,  sub- 
jects of  successful  extirpation  of  the  parotid  gland.  Dr.  Roe  attend- 
ed lectures  principally  at  the  "Rutgers  Medical  College,"  which,  not 
obtaining  a  charter,  was  unable  to  confer  degrees;  it  therefore  had  a 
brief  existence.  Dr.  R.  then  attended  courses  of  private  lectures, 
under  Drs.  Bedford,  Pendleton,  Bush,  &c.  Subsequently  he  attended 
the  medical  lectures  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  where, 
it  is  said,  he  graduated.  He  married  in  New  York,  soon  after  which 
he  went  1o  White  Plains,  and  established  himself  as  a  coi)artner  of 
Dr.  David  Puhner,  the  only  physician  then  practicing  in  that  village. 
He  i)racticed  all  branches  of  the  profession  for  a  period  of  thirteen 
years,  with  great  ability  and  success.  He  at  the  same  .time  carried 
ou  the  business  of  an  apothecary. 


13 

He  died  of  ship  fcvor,  contracted  while  In  attendance  upon  a  num- 
ber of  emigrant  vagrants  in  the  ahns-liouse  of  the  county.  He  wa« 
also  at  the  time  attending  ujxin  a  professional  brother,  Dr.  Joseph 
8cribner,  of  Tarrytown,  who  also  died  of  the  same  disease,  contracted 
at  the  same  place.  There  is  no  doubt  that  his  indefatigable  ami  anx- 
ious care  of  Dr.  Scribner  materially  increased  the  exciting  caases  of 
the  attack.  Congestion  of  the  brain  supervened,  and  on  Tuesday, 
January  11th,  1848,  he  died,  having  been  ill  but  seven  days.  Dr. 
Roe  left  a  wife,  a  son  and  two  daughters,  to  mourn  his  loss. 

The  doctor  was  em)>hatically  a  self-made  man;  he  enjoyed  but  few 
early  advantages,  but  being  endowed  liberally  with  superior  mental 
qualities,  v/ith  great  industry  and  force  of  character,  he  was  enabled 
to  rise  superior  to  time  and  place.  Opposing  circumstances  were  met 
with  a  determination  to  overcome  them,  adequate  to  the  nature  and 
character  of  the  obstacle.  The  doctor  was  actuated  by  a  very  lauda- 
ble ambition  to  excel  in  his  medical  acquirements,  and  determined,  in 
the  outset  of  his  career,  to  devote  all  his  energies  to  attain  an  honora- 
ble professional  eminence,  and  uj)  to  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  not 
striven  in  vain  for  distinction. 

He  possessed,  naturally,  a  frail  constitution;  he  was  tall  and  slen- 
der, predisposed,  perhaps,  to  consumption,  having  a  light  complexion, 
very  light,  line,  straight  hair;  in  student  life  very  pale,  so  nmch  so, 
indeed,  that  he  was  called  in  college  "the  walking  spook."  Ills  mind 
was  exceedingly  active,  with  a  most  vigorous  mental  appetite.  He 
was  not  insensible  to  the  danger  of  over-exertion  of  the  brain,  and  not 
unfrequently  alluded  to  it  as  an  ai)prehendcd  cause  of  his  j)reniatur(' 
death. 

His  friend,  Dr.  Hudson,  of  White  Plains,  to  wliom  1  am  indebted 
for  all  the  facts  and  many  of  the  expressions  in  this  sketch,  as  well  as 
those  of  Drs.  Arnold,  Adams,  and  others,  says:  "To  Dr.  Koe  it  was 
indeed  a  painful  self-denial  to  keep  from  close  study  and  deep  thought. 
We  seldom  met  him,  or  spent  the  latest  hours  of  the  night  with  him, 
(a  jirivilege  we  availed  ourselves  of  as  frefpiently  as  circumstances 
would  permit,  for  our  own  profit,)  but  he  had  some  new  idea,  some 
new  train  of  thought,  some  new  theory,  or  practical  suggestion  or  ex- 
perience; it  was  impossible  to  be  with  him  an  hour  without  learning 
something  new  and  useful.  It  was  his  delight  both  to  elicit  and  com- 
municate facts  and  observations,  the  results  of  exi)erience." 

In  the  commencement  of  his  practice  he  was  not  well  received,  ow- 
ing partly  to  the  popularity  of  his  respectable  partner;  perhaps,  also, 
to  the  circumstance  of  his  unprepossessing  address,  and  want  of  knowl- 


14 

edge  of  all  the  little  amenities  that  pertain  to  the  social  circle.  But 
obseiTation  and  a  brief  experience  soon  put  him  in  the  vantage-ground, 
when  he  enjoyed  the  unlimited  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  whole 
community  in  which  he  lived  and  labored. 

Dr.  Roe's  case-books,  and  the  marginal  and  foot  notes  in  all  the 
works  he  read,  attest  his  diligence  and  good  sense.  At  one  time  he 
conceived  the  idea,  laid  his  plans,  and  commenced  the  work  of  writing 
a  treatise  on  the  practice  of  medicine ;  the  cares  of  an  increasing  fam- 
ily and  an  extensive  practice  so  completely  engrossed  his  time  that  he 
abandoned  the  project. 

He  almost  envied  the  city  physicians  the  great  opportunities  which 
they  can  enjoy;  but  his  health  forbade  his  removal  from  the  country. 

For  many  years  he  availed  himself  of  the  practice  of  the  county  alms- 
house, as  a  school  of  observation.  The  miserable  and  otherwise  home- 
less and  hapless  patients  of  that  institution  felt  that  in  him  they  had  a 
faithful,  skillful,  and  kind  physician  and  friend.  He  was  eminently 
accurate  in  diagnosis,  and  happy  in  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends. 
His  mechanical  resources,  as  applied  to  surgery,  are  well  exemplified  in 
the  construction  of  a  fracture  apparatus,  which  was  a  decided  improve- 
ment on  Amesbury's  sphnt,  in  the  opinion  of  those  who  have  made  use 
of  it.  The  following  resolutions  were  unanimously  passed  at  the  annual 
meeting  of  this  Society,  June  6th,  1848,  on  motion  of  Dr.  P.  Stewart: 

"  Whereas,  since  our  last  Annual  Meeting,  there  have  been  removed 
from  us  hj  the  hand  of  a  wise,  yet  mysterious  Providence,  in  the  vigor 
of  manhood  and  professional  usefulness,  two  of  our  most  worthy  and 
esteemed  professional  brethren:  therefore, 

"  Rcsolvpil,  That  with  feelings  of  the  profoundest  sorrow,  we 
record  the  death  of  Drs.  Livingston  Roe  and  Joseph  M.  Scribner ;  and 
that  their  absence  from  our  meeting  to  day  recalls  to  our  minds  their 
cheerful  and  manly  countenances,  as  they  have  met  with  us  on  former 
occasions  like  tliis,  and  boldly  maintained  the  dignity  and  honor  of  our 
profession  by  discountenancing  all  forms  of  empiricism  on  the  one  hand, 
and  by  their  efficient  advocacy  of  estal)lished  principles  of  practice  on 
the  otiier,  and  by  the  hljeral  spirit  of  improvement  which  they  mani- 
fested in  all  the  departments  of  medical  science,  and  which  led  Dr.  Roe 
to  invent  a  most  valuable  surgical  splint,  for  which  he  deserves  the 
thanks  of  the  profession." 

As  an  evidence  of  the  extent  to  which  Dr.  Roe's  si)lint  had  been 
used,  and  the  favorable  opinion  entertained  of  it  by  the  profession,  I 
have  extracted  from  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  of  this  Society,  held  in 


15 

Sinp^  Sing,  Jane  Gth,  1843,  the  followinj?  resolution,  wliich  was,  on  mo- 
tion of  Dr.  James  Fountain,  unanimously  adopted: 

"Resolved,  That  the  mass  of  the  members  of  the  Medical  Society  of 
this  county,  having  used  the  apparatus  for  fractures  of  the  extremitiea, 
invented  (or  materially  improved)  and  presented  to  the  profession  by 
Dr.  L.  Roe,  consider  it  as  decidedly  superior  to  anything  of  the  kind 
ever  offered  to  the  public;  this  resolution  to  be  signed  by  the  President 
and  Secretary  of  this  Society,  and  presented  to  Dr.  Roe,  for  his 
disposal." 

Dr.  Roe's  literary  character  was  respectable;  he  delivered  several 
well-composed  public  addresses.  On  one  occasion  he  delivered  a  Fourth 
of  July  oration,  which  was  so  highly  ajjpreciated  as  to  merit  publica- 
tion. His  remains  were  deposited  in  the  yard  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
ia  White  Plains. 

A  few  days  after  his  death  a  public  meeting  was  convened,  at  which 
resolutions  were  passed  and  addresses  made,  expressive  of  the  bereave- 
ment of  the  community. 

llis  was  an  example  worthy  of  the  imitation  of  every  member  of  this 
or  any  other  medical  society. 


Dr.  ELISHA  belcher,  a  former  practitioner  of  this  county, 
though  not  a  resident  of  it,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Preston,  (now 
Lebanon,)  New  London  County,  Ct.,  in  the  year  1751.  He  received 
a  good  classical  education,  after  which  he  engaged  in  the  study  of 
medicine  and  surgery.  His  preceptor's  name  I  have  been  unable  to  ob- 
tain. Before  he  had  finished  his  medical  education,  he  joined  the  Conti- 
nental Army,  and  soon  received  the  appointment  of  surgeon's  mate; 
after  two  years'  service  in  this  capacity,  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  surgeon,  and  stationed  at  Greenwich,  Fairfield  Co.,  Ct.,  near  the 
New  York  State  line,  where  he  continued  to  practice  his  profession 
until  within  one  year  of  his  death.  He  died  of  hydrothorax,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1825,  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age. 

Dr.  Belcher  was  eminent  in  his  profession;  he  was  frequent ly  called 
as  counsel  to  remote  towns  as  far  north  as  Poughkeepsie.  His  opinion 
was  valued  by  both  patients  and  physicians;  he  was  a  man  of  few 
words,  but  they  were  well  considered.  He  was  a  man  below  the  me- 
dium stature  and  size.  He  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Brooklyn 
Heights,  at  the  burning  of  Danbury,  and  at  the  battle  of  "White 
Plains. 


16 

His  practice  was  full  three-fourths  in  Westchester  County;  he  resided 
within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  State  line.  He  educated  not  less  than 
twelve  or  fourteen  young  men  to  the  medical  profession,  including  his 
two  sous,  Dr.  Elisha  R.  Belcher,  of  New  York  City,  and  Dr.  William 
N.  Belcher,  of  Sing  Sing,  N..  Y. 

Dr.  Belcher  had  two  sons  and  seven  daughters,  who  seemed  to  have 
had  a  strong  inclination  for  the  medical  profession,  or  at  least  for  its 
members.  His  third  daughter  married  Dr.  Darius  Mead,  of  Green- 
wich, Conn.,  a  former  student  of  Dr.  Belcher.  His  fourth  daughter 
married  Dr.  Stephen  Fowler,  of  North  Castle,  and,  after  his  death, 
married  Dr.  Henry  White,  of  Yorktown.  His  fifth  daughter  married 
Dr.  David  Palmer,  of  White  Plains.  His  seventh  daughter  married 
Dr.  Bartow  F.  White,  son  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  White,  of  Somers,  and 
grandson  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  White,  of  Yorktown. 


Dr.  CLARK  SAN  FORD,  of  Greenwich,  Conn.,  also  deserves 
mention,  although,  like  Dr.  Belcher,  he  was  uot  a  resident  of  our  county; 
yet  the  greater  part  of  his  practice  was  on  this  side  of  the  Connecticut 
State  line,  living  within  one  mile  of  Westchester  County. 

Dr.  Sanford  was  a  native  of  Yermont;  he  practiced  in  this  county 
for  thirty  years.  He  was  extensively  known  to  the  profession  of  his 
day  as  the  manufacturer  of  pulverized  Peruvian  Bark,  which  was  con- 
sidered to  be  a  superior  article,  and  sold  under  the  name  of  "Sanford's 
Bark,"  for  one  dollar  per  pound,  while  the  ordinary  bark  brought  only 
one-half  this  price.  It  was  neatly  put  up  in  paper  boxes,  in  quantities 
from  one-half  a  pound  to  five  or  more  pounds. 

His  mill  for  grinding  medicines  was  located  at  "]5yrom  Mills,"  a 
place  now  known  as  Glenville;  his  sons  greatly  increased  the  business 
of  grinding  medicines  after  the  death  of  tlicir  father.  This  was  nearly 
the  flrst  establishment  for  the  purpose  in  this  country,  and  proved  very 
lucrative  to  liis  son  John,  who  continued  the  business. 

Dr.  Sanford  was  a  bold  practitioner  of  both  medicine  and  surgery. 
Ho  enjoyed  a  much  more  than  ordinary  reputation  as  a  surgeon,  being 
discreet  and  conservative,  yet  decided,  prompt,  and  skillful.  He  edu- 
cated his  eldest  son,  Joscphus,  to  the  profession,  who  was  a  young  man 
of  great  promise;  he  settled  at  the  South,  and  died  after  a  few  years' 
residence  there.  His  third  son,  Henry,  is  a  very  respectable  apothe- 
cary hi  New  York  City. 


17 

Dr.  Sanforcl  was  afflicted  with  a  very  peculiar  idiosyncrasy.  An  in- 
finitesimal quantity  of  pulverized  ipecacuanha  would  affect  him  seri- 
ously; he  could  not  carry  it  about  him,  or  in  his  saddle-bags,  even  with 
every  precaution  to  prevent  its  escape  into  the  air.  It  produced  an 
asthmatic  affection,  analogous  to  the  hay  asthma  of  English  medical 
writers.  His  susceptibility  was  so  delicate  that  he  could  detect  its 
presence  by  the  slightest  particles  that  were  floating  in  the  atmos- 
phere, although  imperceptible  to  the  senses  of  all  others;  he  of  course 
avoided  its  presence  with  ])eculiar  care.  He  was  a  very  eccentric  man, 
au  inveterate  smoker,  and  had  the  habit  of  always  carrying  his  long 
tobacco-pipe  either  in  his  mouth  or  in  his  boot-leg.  His  hair  was 
always  dressed  in  a  cue.  He  is  said  to  have  been,  like  too  many  medical 
men  of  his  day,  the  especial  terror  of  all  children.  Even  in  our  own  days, 
the  doctor  is  not  unfrequently  made  the  object  of  dread  to  all  juvenile 
evil-doers;  a  threat  to  send  for  him  is  often  equivalent  to  "calling 
spirits  from  the  vasty  deep." 

Dr.  Sanford  died  about  the  year  1820,  aged  over  sixty  years,  hav- 
ing had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 


Dr.  JOHN  INGERSOLL,  of  Yonkers,  was  born  about  the  year 
1145;  the  exact  place  of  his  nativity  or  the  precise  time  of  his  settle- 
ment in  the  town  of  Yonkers  cannot  be  determined.  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Baldwin,  an  old  resident  of  the  town,  says  he  knew  Dr.  Ingersoll  in 
1804,  when  he  (Mr.  B.)  first  moved  into  Yonkers.  At  that  date  there 
were  but  fourteen  or  fifteen  families  within  what  are  now  the  corpo- 
rate limits  of  the  village;  there  was  a  scattered  farming  population 
throughout  the  township,  whose  borders  were  the  same  as  at  present. 
Dr.  Ingersoll  lived  then,  and  until  he  died  in  1828,  on  a  place  about 
three  miles  northeast  of  the  village.  When  he  first  knew  him,  he  was 
"a  big,  portly,  good-looking  man,"  and  "  a  fine  social  man,"  free  from 
bad  habits,  a  good  neighbor  and  excellent  citizen;  at  this  time  he 
seemed  to  be  about  forty  years  old.  He  was  then  the  only  physician 
in  the  town,  and  rode  from  King's  Bridge  to  Chatterton's  Hill,  in  the 
outskirts  of  White  Plains;  he  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  "  a  good  family 
doctor,  but  no  surgeon."  "Didn't  want,  and  wouldn't  attend  sur- 
gical cases,  if  he  could  help  it."  Mr.  Baldwin  says  he  has  seen  many 
cases  of  very  bad  surgery  come  from  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Ingersoll. 
His  obstetrical  practice  was  very  extensive.  He  was  a  man  who  in- 
variably discountenanced  consultations,  and  generally  avoided  inter- 
2 


18 

course  with  bis  professional  brethren.  He  is  said  to  have  been  very 
attentive  to  his  patients;  the  darkest  night,  the  most  pjtiless  storm, 
was  never  used  as  an  excuse  for  not  attending  to  the  wants  of  suffering 
humanity.  About  the  year  1815  he  unfortunately  became  addicted  to 
habits  of  insobriety,  which  increased  upon  him  until  his  death  in  1828. 
He  was  an  American,  and,  with  his  wife,  came  from  the  vicinity  of 
Horseneck.  They  had  no  children.  As  is  too  frequently  the  case  with 
physicians,  he  was  careless  in  charging  and  "  easy "  in  collecting  his 
accounts,  consequently  left  very  Uttle  property,  except  the  mere  "place" 
on  which  he  lived  so  many  years. 

After  Dr.  Gates  settled  in  Yonkers,  Dr.  Ingersoll's  practice  was 
very  much  abridged,  which,  it  is  said,  rendered  Dr.  G.  no  special 
favorite  of  Dr.  lugersoll. 

Dr.  Gates  says,  that  when  he  came  to  Yonkers,  in  the  year  1824, 
he  found  Dr.  lugersoll  an  old  man,  being  nearly  seventy  years  of  age. 
He  thinks  it  would  be  difficult  to  establish  for  him  the  fact  of  having 
ever  received  a  good  professional  education.  He  was  "  a  bungling 
surgeon  and  a  poor  bleeder."  He,  however,  enjoyed  a  good  reputa- 
tion in  the  treatment  of  typhoid  pneumonia,  which  prevailed  epidemi- 
cally in  1813-14:  his  practice  was  not  to  bleed,  or  in  any  way  to  de- 
plete, but  to  sustain  the  vital  powers  by  tonics,  stimulants,  and  diet. 
He  probably  published  nothing  of  his  long  experience  and  observa- 
tion. He  died  in  August,  1827,  of  delirium  tremens,  and  was  be- 
lieved to  be  about  seventy-three  years  old.  Dr.  lugersoll  and  his  wife 
were  both  buried  in  the  church-yard  of  St.  John's  Chapel  at  Tuckahoe; 
not  even  the  rudest  headstone  marks  the  place  of  their  interment. 

Dr.  J.  Foster  Jenkins,  of  Yonkers,  kindly  obtained  above  facts. 


Dr.  DAVID  ROGERS,  Jk.,  of  Mammaroueck,  was  the  sou  of  Dr. 
David  Rogers,  (not  Rodgers,)  of  Fairfield,  Conn.,  and  had  descended 
from  a  long  hue  of  distinguished  physicians  of  that  nanu;  in  Connecticut. 

Dr.  David  Rogers,  Jr.,  commenced  practice  in  Mammaroueck  before 
the  year  1800.  His  brotlier.  Dr.  Charles  Rogers,  settled  in  Savannah, 
Georgia,  about  the  same  time,  or  shortly  after.  I  have  been  unable  to 
obtain  much  exact  information  in  relation  to  his  life;  he  is  reported  to 
have  been  a  physician  of  eminence,  and  enjoyed  an  extensive  practice. 
He  was  famous  as  an  cxtcnninator  of  worms,  and  treated  all  the 
verminous  children  in  the  region;  what  special  antlielmintics  he  admin- 
iitored  has  not  been  left  to  the  knowledge  of  posterity.  Dr.  Moultou 
states,  that  when  inquiry  was  made  of  Dr.  Rogers  as  to  the  peculiar 


19 

article  or  cunibiiiatiun  he  employed  so  successfully  as  a  vermifuge,  he 
replied,  in  his  characteristic  style — "Pink  and  darana))le  doses  of 
physic." 

His  father.  Dr.  David  Rogers,  moved  from  Fairlicld,  where  he  had 
practiced  for  many  years,  into  Rye,  about  the  year  1810,  where  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  but  never  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession. 

Dr.  David  Rogers,  Jr.,  had  two  sons,  whom  he  educated  for  the 
profession  of  medicine — Drs.  David  L.  and  James  Rogers,  of  New  York 
City.  The  doctor  was  President  of  the  Westchester  County  Medical 
Society  for  several  years,  from  1817  to  1820,  about  which  time  he 
removed  to  the  City  of  New  York.  While  in  the  country,  it  is  said 
he  was  a  Presbyterian,  but  soon  after  his  removal  to  the  city  he 
adopted  the  plain  garb  of  the  Quaker,  attended  "meeting"  instead  of 
"  church,"  and,  as  a  result  of  his  change  of  faith  and  garments,  he  soon 
found  many  "  friends,"  who  became  likewise  his  patients.  lie  died 
about  the  year  1843  or  '44,  aged  nearly  seventy. 


Dr.  ISAAC  GILBERT  GRAHAM,  of  Mount  Pleasant,  was  a  son 
of  Dr.  Andrew  Graham,  and  born  in  Southbury  Parish,  Woodbury, 
Conn.,  September  10th,  1760.  He  studied  medicine  under  the  guid- 
ance of  his  fiither,  who  was  a  physician  in  good  standing,  and  son  of 
the  Rev.  John  Graham,  A.M.,  a  native  of  Edinbiu-gh,  Scotland,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  and  a  graduate  of  the  University 
of  Glasgow. 

Dr.  Isaac  G.  Graham,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  at  an  early 
age  appointed  assistant  surgeon  in  the  American  Revolutionary  army, 
under  General  Washington,  at  West  Point,  whose  warm  regard  he  pos- 
sessed, for  his  medical  knowledge  and  patriotic  devotion  to  the  great 
cause  which  engaged  their  united  energies.  He  was  present  at  several 
important  engagements  with  the  enemy.  When  he  retirctl  from  the 
array,  it  is  said  he  received  from  his  superior  oflieers  the  highest  proof 
of  their  respect  and  esteem  for  his  alacrity  and  fidelity  in  the  perform- 
ance of  his  military  duties. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-four  years  he  maiTied  Auley  l?anckcr,  and 
settled  at  Unionville,  where  he  commenced  the  practice  of  nudiciue  in 
this  county,  which  he  successfully  prosecuted  for  nearly  half  a  centary, 
and  until  the  infirmities  of  old  age  compelled  him  to  relinquish  all  ac- 
tive duties. 


20 

After  the  passage  of  the  Pension  Act  by  Congress,  he  received  the 
sum  of  $440  per  annum,  for  his  services  in  the  army.  His  business  in 
the  earher  part  of  his  life  was  extended  over  a  large  tract  of  country, 
which  he  was  always  ready  and  prompt  to  attend,  being  considered 
very  skillful  m  the  treatment  of  what  was  then  called  the  winter  fever 
and  small-pox;  he  was  much  respected  by  the  poor,  towards  whom  he 
ever  manifested  a  spirit  of  benevolence  and  charity. 

During  some  seasons  he  practiced  inoculation  for  small-pox  to  a 
great  extent,  and  made  it  quite  a  lucrative  business.  It  is  said  he 
made  $1,400  in  one  season  from  this  practice  alone;  he  of  course  had 
but  little  or  no  confidence  in  the  prophylactic  vii-tues  of  vaccination. 

With  steadiness  of  purpose  and  regularity  of  life  he  combmed  an 
incorruptible  integrity,  which  secured  for  him  through  life  unlimited 
confidence  and  an  unblemished  fame.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  a  sin- 
cere and  humble  behever  in  the  Christian  faith,  on  the  first  of  Septem- 
ber, 1848,  aged  eighty-eight  years. 

In  his  personal  appearance  he  is  said  to  have  been  a  little  above  the 
medium  stature,  rather  slender,  his  countenance  strikingly  intellectual, 
with  rather  sharp  features.  He  educated  his  son  Frederick  to  the 
medical  profession,  who  is  now  in  practice  in  Indiana.* 


Dr.  STEPHEN  FOWLER,  of  New  Castle,  was  born  in  Orange 
County,  N.  Y . ;  he  practiced  in  New  Castle,  in  this  county,  aljout  eight 
years;  his  popular  and  professional  reputation  were  extremely  good. 
His  practice  was  very  extensive,  and  he  was  one  of  the  few  who  have 
been  able  to  accumulate  money  by  an  honest  practice  of  medicine, 
especially  in  the  rural  districts.  ]3ut  he  was  not  permitted  to  live  to 
enjoy  the  benefits  of  his  earnings;  he  died  about  the  year  1814,  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-five  years. 

Dr.  Joshua  W.  Bowrou  was  a  student  of  his,  and,  after  the  death  of 
his  preceptor,  located  himself  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Dr.  Fowler's 
office. 

Dr.  Stephen  Fowler  died  of  typhoid  pneumonia,  which  was  prevail- 
ing epidemically  at  the  time.  I  regret  my  inability  to  procure  any 
further  information  of  the  suVyect  of  this  brief  sketch. 


•  1  am  under  obligations  to  my  friend,  Dr.  Haigbt,  of  rieasantville,  for  this 
intcrcBling  sketch. 


21 

Dr.  JOSHUA  W.  BO  WRON,  of  New  Castle,  was  the  son  of  William 
and  Mary  IJowron,  who  cmi<(rated  from  England  and  settled  in  this 
country  soon  after  the  Revolutionary  war. 

Dr.  Bowron  was  born  in  the  town  of  Washington,  Dutchess  County, 
iu  April,  1788.  He  pursued  his  medical  studies  under  the  care  of  the 
late  Dr.  Stephen  Fowler,  of  this  county.  He  attended  the  medical 
and  surgical  lectures  of  the  Barclay  Street  College,  where  he  also  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Medicine.  At  that  time  the  Barclay 
Street  Medical  College  was  the  only  medical  institution  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  enjoyed  a  high  and  deserved  reputation.  Dr.  Bowron 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  about  two  miles  and  a  half 
southeast  of  the  village  of  Sing  Sing,  residing  on  a  farm  now  owned 
by  Peter  Titler. 

He  had  not  practiced  in  this  place  but  two  or  three  years  before 
his  preceptor,  Dr.  Stephen  Fowler,  died,  and  by  the  request  of  many 
of  the  most  respectable  citizens  of  New  Castle,  he  was  induced  to  lo- 
cate In  the  neighborhood,  and  occupy  the  field  of  practice  left  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Dr.  Fowler,  in  which  place  he  continued  to  practice 
until  disease  compelled  him  to  abandon  his  labors. 

When  about  sixty-two  years  old  he  had  an  attack  of  apoplexy, 
which  left  him  with  a  partial  paralysis  of  one  side  of  the  body.  SLx 
months  after  this  attack  he  gave  up  his  practice,  which  he  had  unre- 
mittingly followed  for  nearly  forty  years.  The  apoplectic  seizures  re- 
curring frequently,  were  followed  by  a  deplorable  state  of  weakness  of 
both  body  and  mind.  He  was  reduced  to  a  complete  mental  wreck, 
unable  to  even  feed  or  dress  himself;  he  was  dependent  upon  the  con- 
stant care  of  his  excellent  and  devoted  wife,  who  is  still  living  to  mourn 
his  loss,  and  the  melancholy  termination  of  his  useful  career. 

Dr.  Bowron  was  elected  President  of  the  Westchester  County  Medi- 
cal Society  in  1848,  and  re-elected  in  1849,  l)ut  was  not  present  at 
the  meetings  of  the  Society  at  either  session.  I  am  not  aware  that  he 
ever  contributed  anything  to  medical  literature. 

No  private  i)ractitioner  ever  enjoyed  a  wider  field  of  practice,  or  a 
longer  list  of  ardent,  admiring,  and  confiding  friends.  His  practice 
was  only  limited  by  his  Herculean  powers  of  endurance,  which  at  last 
gave  way  under  the  severe  demands  of  so  extensive  and  so  arduous  a 
practice.  A  love  for  his  profession,  with  the  soul  of  the  good  Samari- 
tan, and  unbounded  kindness,  were  his  incentives  to  action.  Long  will 
his  memory  live,  cherished  by  his  numerous  living  friends,  and  the 
simple  history  of  his  life  be  transmitted  to  the  rising  generation  as  a 
l)eautiful  example  of  a  benevolent  gentleman  and  a  kind  i)liysician. 


22 

Though  engaged  in  a  very  arduous  country  practice,  Dr.  Bowron 
found  time  to  read  the  current  literature  of  the  profession.  He  pos- 
sessed a  very  good  medical  library,  which  exhibited  evidence  of  exten- 
sive use ;  he  also  received  and  read  one  or  more  medical  journals.  He 
accumulated  a  competency  by  his  practice,  and  carried  on  the  various 
branches  of  agriculture  upon  the  beautiful  farm  which  he  possessed  in 
New  Castle,  at  which  place  he  died,  on  Friday,  the  20th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 185t,  in  the  sixty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  His  brother.  Dr.  John 
S.  Bowron,  is  a  very  respectable  physician  in  New  York  City. 

I  have  not  learned  the  number  of  students  of  medicine  he  had  under  his 
charge,  or  the  names  of  any  except  Dr.  Joshua  Fowler,  of  Fleasant- 
ville,  Dr.  James  Woolsey,  of  North  Castle,  and  his  brother,  Dr.  John 
S.  Bowron,  of  New  York  City. 


Dr.  JOSEPH  M.  SCRIBNER,  of  Tarrytown,  was  born  in  Bed- 
ford, in  this  county.  May  11th,  1793. 

He  pursued  his  medical  studies  with  Dr.  William  H.  Sackett,  of 
that  place.  He  attended  the  lectures  of  what  was  styled  "  The  Medi- 
cal Institution  of  the  State  of  New  York."  A  parchment  certificate 
of  his  attendance  I  find,  dated  Session  of  1815-16,  and  signed  by  Drs. 
Jolni  Watts,  Archibald  Bruce,  Alexander  H.  Stevens,  Thomas  Cock, 
Jolm  Griscom,  and  Robert  Bayard. 

During  this  session  he  also  attended  the  clinical  lectures  of  the  New 
York  City  Hospital,  as  his  certificate  shows.  He  received  a  dii)loma 
as  licentiate  of  the  Westchester  County  Medical  Society,  dated  April, 
181*1,  and  signed  by  Dr.  David  Rogers,  Jr.,  President,  and  Dr.  Wil- 
liam H.  Sackett,  Secretary. 

Dr.  Scribner  commenced  practice  about  two  and  a  half  miles  south- 
cast  of  Sing  Sing,  near  the  place  where  Dr.  Jiowron  first  settled;  he 
remained  there  but  one  year,  married  a  Miss  AVard,  and  removed  to 
Bedford,  where  he  remained  but  one  year;  he  then  changed  his  loca- 
tion to  witliin  one  and  a  half  niik;s  of  Tarrytown.  He  continued  to 
practice  in  tliis  place  for  al)out  fifteen  years.  In  1835  he  removed 
into  tin;  village  of  Tarrytown,  where  he  continued  to  reside  and  attend 
to  tlic  (Inlics  of  his  profession  up  to  the  time  of  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred December  28tli,  1847. 

He  died  of  typhoid  fever,  contracted  at  the  Aims-House,  where  he 
was  in  attendance  upon  a  mimber  of  severe  cases,  in  connection  with 


23 

Dr.  Roo,  of  White  I'lains,  who  also  fell  a  victim  to  the  same  disease  a 
few  days  after  the  death  of  Dr.  Scribncr. 

Dr.  Scribncr  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-four.  IILs  mortal  remains  find 
a  resting-place  in  the  cemetery  connected  with  the  celebrated  "Old 
Dutch  Church"  of  Tarrytown. 

He  educated  his  eldest  sou,  James  W.  Scribncr,  to  the  profes«ion. 
He  was  a  highly  respectable  practitioner,  but  probably  never  contrib- 
uted anything  to  the  medical  periodicals  of  his  day.  The  resolutions 
passed  by  the  County  Society,  as  a  tribute  to  his  memory,  jointly  with 
that  of  Dr.  Roe,  will  be  found  in  the  sketch  of  the  latter. 


Dr.  SETH  miller,  of  Sing  Sing,  was  born  in  April,  1766.  He 
was  originally  from  Lower  Salem,  from  whence  he  settled  in  New  Cas- 
tle, where  he  practiced  several  years,  after  which,  and  before  the  year 
1790,  he  settled  in  Sing  Sing,  being  the  first  physician  that  ever  lo- 
cated in  that  village.  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  much  informa- 
tion of  him  except  from  an  old  lady,  long  a  resident  of  Sing  Sing, 
Mrs.  John  Miller,  aged  eighty-six  years.  She  informed  me  that  Dr. 
Miller  attended  her  husband,  who  was  sick  with  yellow  fever,  being 
the  first  and  only  case,  up  to  that  time,  that  had  ever  occurred  in  the 
place.  It  was  prevailing  in  New  York  City  at  that  time.  Mr.  Mil- 
ler had  been  exposed  a  few  days  previous,  while  m  the  city  on  busi- 
ness.    The  disease  did  not  spread,  his  being  the  only  case. 

Dr.  3Iiller  designed  to  educate  his  only  son  to  medicine,  but  he 
soon  evinced  his  entire  disinclination  for  the  healing  art;  therefore  he 
"  threw  physic  to  the  dogs,"  and  directed  his  attention  to  some  me- 
chanical pursuit.  The  doctor's  eldest  daugiiter  married  Dr.  Kissam, 
of  New  York;  his  second  daughter,  who  is  said  to  have  been  extremely 
beautiful  and  highly  accomplished,  married  Dr.  Wallace,  of  Troy,  N. 
Y.  She  is  said  to  have  undertaken  to  continue  her  husband's  i)rac- 
tice  after  his  death,  having  devoted  nmch  time  to  the  study  of  medi- 
cine. 

Dr.  Stephen  Silleck,  of  Sing  Sing,  was  a  student  of  Dr.  Miller  fur 
one  year  and  a  half. 

Dr.  Miller  was  a  man  who  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  physician,  and 
universally  beloved  as  a  kind  friend  and  good  citizen,  lie  was  gentle- 
manly and  courteous  in  his  manners,  and  extremely  neat  and  genteel  in 
his  dress  and  personal  appearance.  He  wore  his  hair  done  uj)  in  a  club, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  times,  especially  in  vogue  among  jtro- 


24 

fessional  men.  He  is  said  to  have  been  very  skillful,  and  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  a  large  circle  of  friends  and  patients.  While  engaged  in 
practice  in  New  Castle,  a  wealthy  and  influential  family  of  Quakers  in 
his  neighborhood  had  never  called  upon  him  professionally,  from  an 
erroneous  impression  that  he  was  haughty  and  proud.  One  day,  in 
passing  their  house,  he  stopped  to  ask  for  a  drink  of  water,  and  seeing 
some  very  fine  loaves  of  rye  bread,  warm  from  the  oven,  he  very  court- 
eously begged  them  to  present  him  a  loaf,  at  the  same  time  express- 
ing his  fondness  for  that  kind  of  bread.  Of  course,  his  request  was 
cheerfully  complied  with,  and  this  little  incident  and  simple  act  of  fa- 
miliarity forever  after  secured  the  friendship  as  well  as  patronage  and 
influence  of  this  excellent  family. 

Dr.  Miller's  health  began  to  fail  several  years  before  his  death,  and 
being  unable  to  attend  to  his  extensive  practice,  he  invited  Dr.  Jere- 
miah Drake  Fowler  to  settle  in  Sing  Sing,  and  participate  in,  and 
eventually  succeed  him  in  his  practice.  Dr.  Miller  died  two  or  three 
years  after  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Fowler.  This  event  occurred  November 
23,  1808,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age,  his  disease  being  jaun- 
dice.    He  was  interred  in  the  cemetery  at  Sparta,  below  Sing  Sing. 


Dr.  HOWARD  LEE,  of  Sing  Sing,  son  of  the  Dr.  Lee  famous  as 
the  compounder  of  the  celebrated  "Lee's  Anti-bilious  Pills,"  practiced 
in  that  place  previous  to  the  year  1838.  Little  is  known  of  him,  ex- 
cept that  he  is  said  to  have  been  very  intemperate. 


Du.  JEREMIAH  DRAKE  FOWLER,  of  Sing  Sing,  was  the  son 
of  Reuben  Fowler  and  Martha  Drake,  who  were  among  the  pioneer 
settlers  of  Westchester  County.  He  was  born  the  28th  day  of  De- 
cember, 1*185,  in  the  village  of  Peekskill,  where  his  parents  resided 
during  the  Revolutionary  war.  His  father  was  about  the  last  to  flee 
from  the  village  on  that  memorable  occasion,  when  the  British,  hav- 
ing landed  at  Vcrplanck's  Point,  marched  into  the  town,  and  after  hav- 
ing driven  out  the  inhabitants  and  det^troycd  some  Continental  stores, 
dei)arted,  having  spent  a  fciw  hours  in  sacking  the  place.  Dr.  Fowler's 
parents  left  Peekskill  in  1788,  and  resided  in  East  Chester  until  1798, 
when  they  removed  to  Fishkill.  At  an  early  age  tlu^y  gave  him  the 
best  classical  training  of  the  day,  with  a  view  to  hia  entering  tiie 


25 

medical  profession,  which  lie  did  in  the  twenty-second  year  of  his  age, 
being  the  year  1806;  having  pnrsued  his  studies  with  the  elder  Dr. 
Drake,  of  Peekskill,  and  attended  full  courses  of  lectures  at  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  in  New  York  City,  under  J.  Augus- 
tine Smith,  David  Hosack,  John  Griscom,  and  others. 

He  settled  in  Sing  Sing  (says  his  son.  Dr.  Theodore  Fowler,  to 
whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  greater  portion  of  this  sketch, )  immedi- 
ately after  receiving  his  degree,  at  the  suggestion  of  Capt.  Hunter,  a 
connection  of  his  residing  there,  where  he  labored  most  successfully 
until  his  death,  Mdiich  occurred  in  the  forty-third  year  of  his  age,  on 
the  28th  of  October,  1828.  He  died  of  congestion  of  the  brain. 
During  that  period  none  ranked  higher  in  his  profession;  he  is  spoken 
of  by  the  few  friends  who  remain  living,  as  an  eminent  and  skillful 
physician.  He  was  the  intimate  friend  and  cotemporary  of  Hosack, 
Post,  Kissam,  and  the  other  shining  lights  of  medicine  in  New  York 
in  that  day.  He  was  a  prominent  member  of  this  Medical  Society, 
and  several  times  represented  it  as  its  delegate  to  the  State  Society. 

He  was  a  practical  surveyor,  and  frequently  acted  in  that  capacity,, 
making  most  of  the  surveys  in  his  immediate  vicinity. 

He  was  elected  Justice  of  the  Peace,  which  was  considered  an 
honor  in  those  days,  and  officiated  in  that  capacity  during  the  years 
1817,  '18,  and  '19;  but  his  clemency  in  granting  the  limits,  and  being 
security,  &c.,  well-nigh  ruined  him,  financially. 

He  was  a  man  of  fine  physical  proportions  and  noble  bearing;  his 
disposition  was  amiable  to  a  fault.  It  is  said  he  had  no  enemies;  the 
truth  was,  no  man  could  quarrel  with  him,  for  if  any  came  to  him  in 
ill-humor,  a  half  dozen  words  from  him  sufficed  to  change  their  feel- 
ings. In  the  social  circle  he  was  peculiarly  happy,  in  difi"using  at  all 
times  a  rich  fund  of  humor  and  story,  which  so  strongly  characterized 
the  social  intercourse  of  the  day  in  which  he  lived. 

Dr.  Fowler's  universal  amenity  of  manner,  his  professional  skill, 
his  social  humor,  all  combined  to  endear  him  to  a  large  circle  of  ad- 
miring friends,  and  render  his  loss  in  the  meridian  of  life  universally 
deplored. 

Dr.  Fowler  educated  to  the  profession  his  brother,  Peter  D.  Fowler, 
who  settled  in  Fishkill,  N.  Y.,  with  whom  his  son,  Theodore  Fowler, 
now  of  the  same  place,  pursued  the  study  of  the  medical  sciences. 


26 

Dr.  DONAL,  of  Colaburg,  now  Croton  Station,  on  the  Hudson 
River,  was  a  young  man  who  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine  in 
that  place,  at  the  time  of  the  prevalence  of  epidemic  typhoid  pneu- 
monia, in  1814,  and  gained  for  himself  an  extensive  reputation,  by 
adopting  the  stimulating  plan  of  treatment  in  that  disease,  with  great 
success.  Soon  after  he  removed  to  New  York,  and  died.  The  par- 
ticulars of  his  life  and  character  I  have  been  unable  to  obtam. 


Dr.  LYMAN  COOK,  of  Cortlandtown,  was  an  eminent  and  suc- 
cessful physician.  He  is  worthy  of  especial  notice  by  us,  having  been 
chosen  the  delegate  of  this  Society,  which  he  represented  by  attending 
the  first  meeting  of  the  State  Medical  Society  in  the  year  1807. 

He  engaged  somewhat  in  politics,  and  was  once  elected  to  the  office 
of  High  Sheriff  of  the  county.  He  removed  to  one  of  the  Western 
States,  where  he  located  as  a  physician. 


Dr.  NATHANIEL  DRAKE,  of  Peekskill,  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Yorktown,  Westchester  County,  N.  Y.,  on  the  27th  of  August, 
1763.  He  was  a  son  of  Judge  Gilbert  Drake,  of  that  town,  a  de- 
scendant of  John  Drake,  of  the  Council  of  Plymouth,  who  was  one  of 
the  original  company  established  by  King  James,  m  1606,  for  the 
settling  of  New  England. 

Dr.  James  Fountain  informed  me  that  he  studied  medicine  under  the 
guidance  of  Dr.  Peter  Hugeford,  of  the  same  town;  while  Dr.  P. 
Stewart  Avrites  me,  that  he  studied  with  Dr.  Ebeuczcr  White, 
of  Yorktown,  a  physician  of  great  distinction  in  his  day;  perhaps 
they  are  ])oth  correct,  as  he  may  have  studied  with  each.  He  attend- 
ed medical  lectures  and  dissections  in  New  York  City,  and  was  one  of 
the  medical  students  who  were  o1)ligcd  to  flee  for  their  lives  from  the 
mob  which  attacked  the  dissecting  apartments,  with  a  full  determina- 
tion to  break  up  the  school  by  violence.  He  commenced  practice 
quite  early  ill  life,  in  his  native  town;  in  a  few  years,  however,  he  removed 
to  the  village  of  Peekskill,  where  he  continued  to  practice  his  profession 
until  within  about  four  months  of  his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  1st 
of  Fi'hruary,  1850,  being  in  the  eighty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  Dr. 
Drake  was  a  respectable  practitioner  for  almost  seventy  years,  under 


27 

various  reverses  of  fortune,  and  at  last  died  poor,  and  in  rather  an 
obscure  manner. 

lie  was  a  tall  and  well-i)roi)oi'ti()nc(l  man,  of  a  decided  bilious  tem- 
perament, good-natured,  and  gentlemanly;  it  is  said  that  no  man  rode 
more  gracefully  and  elegantly  on  horseback  than  Dr.  Drake,  even  in 
his  extreme  old  age.  With  him  expiretl  the  former  splendor  of  the 
ancient  family,  not  one  being  left  to  perpetuate  even  the  name. 

While  in  general  practice  Dr.  Drake  alw&ys  had  his  fair  proportion, 
it  was  in  the  obstetrical  department  that  he  especially  bore  off  the 
palm.  His  natural  kindness  of  heart  and  urbanity  of  manner  secured 
to  him  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  that  class  of  patients,  in  the 
hour  of  their  most  imminent  peril.  Dr.  Stewart  writes,  that  "no 
physician  in  this  region  of  country  has  probably  ever  had  so  large  an 
experience  in  this  department  of  our  profession ;"  his  manner  was  mild 
and  courteous  almost  to  a  fault,  and  where  he  failed  to  win  by  his  pro- 
found knowledge  and  acquirements,  he  succeeded  by  these  most  excel- 
lent traits. 


Dr.  SAMUEL  STRANG,  of  Peekskill,  was  another  of  the  physi- 
cians of  the  olden  time.  He  was  the  son  of  Major  Joseph  Strang,  a 
Revolutionary  hero.  The  true  family  name  is  L'Estrange,  which  has 
been  corruiited  to  Strang.  They  sprang  from  one  of  tlie  French 
Huguenot  families,  whose  descendants  are  now  numerous  in  Yorktown, 
and  comprise  the  most  respectable  and  wealthy  farmers  of  the  town. 

From  Bolton's  History  of  Westchester  County  I  extract  the  fol- 
lowing: 

"From  the  genealogical  table  in  possession  of  the  Strangs,  of  Putr 
nam,  it  appears  that  Daniel  L'Estrange,  and  Charlotte,  his  wife, 
(daughter  of  Francis  Herbert,)  being  Protestants,  fled  from  the  City 
of  Paris,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1685,  during  the  persecutions  under 
Louis  the  XIV.,  and  came  to  the  City  of  London.  He  obtained  a 
lieutenancy  in  the  guards  of  James  the  Second,  King  of  Great  Britain, 
and  continued  there  until  the  year  1688,  when  with  his  wife  he  em- 
barked for  America,  in  company  with  a  number  of  French  Protestants, 
and  arrived  at  the  City  of  New  York.  From  thence  he  went  to  New 
Rochellc,  and  subsequently  removed  to  Rye.  Daniel  L'E.strange,  who 
was  born  A.D.  1656,  died  at  Rye,  in  this  county,  A.D.  1*106.  His  will 
bears  date  the  same  year.  The  late  Major  Joseph  Strang  greatly  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  batteaux  service,  during  the  old  French  war.'' 

Dr.  Strang  was  born  in  Yorktown,  in  the  year  1766.     He  was  a 


28 

student  of  Dr.  Ebenezer  White,  of  Yorktown,  from  whom  he  not  only 
obtained  his  professional  education,  but  also  the  hand  of  his  only 
daughter. 

He  practiced  his  profession  in  the  vicinity  of  Yorktown  for  a  few 
years;  he  then  located  himself  in  Peekskill,  where  he  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days.  He  was  a  reputable  physician,  and  a  man  of 
scrupulous  honesty  and  unwavering  integrity;  he  was  tall  and  slender, 
of  a  sanguineous  temperament,  with  a  very  piercing  blue  eye  and  ex- 
tremely fair  skin;  he  was  not  taciturn,  but  a  man  of  quiet  demeanor. 

He  had  twelve  children,  six  sons  and  a  half-dozen  daughters.  One 
of  his  sons,  Eugene  J.  Strang,  he  carefully  educated  to  the  medical 
profession;  he  practiced  but  one  year,  and  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven  years,  of  cardiac  disease.  He  was  a  young  man  of  promise,  being 
possessed  of  brilliant  talents  and  extensive  acquirements. 

The  second  daughter  of  Dr.  Strang  married  Dr.  William  N.  Belcher, 
of  Sing  Sing. 

Dr.  Samuel  Strang  died  of  typhoid  pneumonia,  in  December,  1831, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-five  years. 


Dr.  peter  HUGEFORD,  of  Cortlandtown,  was  probably  the  first 
regular  physician  in  the  northwestern  portion  of  Westchester  County. 

He  was  an  Englishman  by  birth  and  education,  and  was  unquestion- 
ably an  accomplished  medical  practitioner.  He  was  certainly  a  gen- 
tleman of  the  decided  English  stamp,  as  can  be  seen  by  his  full-length 
portrait  which  now  hangs  in  an  ancient  parlor  of  his  grand-daughter, 
Mrs.  Betsey  Field,  a  widow  of  over  eighty  years,  residing  near  the 
village  of  Peekskill.  In  the  same  antiquated  apartment  hang  the 
portraits  of  two  or  three  of  his  brothers,  haughty-looking,  red-faced 
British  officers,  with  tlieir  massive  powdered  wigs  hanging  over  their 
shoulders.  A  doctor  in  those  days  was  an  important-looking  person- 
age. But,  alas!  the  day  of  ruffled  shirts,  breeches,  and  kncc-bucklcs  of 
silver  and  gold,  and  shoe-buckles  bedecked  with  precious  stones,  and 
huge  curled  and  powdered  wigs,  and  cues  which  would  vie  in  length 
and  beauty  with  those  of  China,  has  long  since  passed  away;  and  now, 
in  these  modern  days  of  degeneracy,  not  even  the  gold-headed  cane  is 
tolerated,  and  doctors,  as  well  as  professional  men  generally,  are  placed 
"in  tli(!  roll  of  common  men,"  and  obliged  to  dress  in  threadbare 
broadchtths,  in  place  of  silken  gowns.     0  1    spirit  of  Hippocrates,  Cel- 


BUS,  and  Galen,  when  sliall  thy  votaries  be  restored  to  their  ancient 
glory  ? 

Dr.  Ilugeford  had  many  students  of  niediiine;  he  was  an  honorablfi 
and  snccessful  practitioner  previous  to  the  Revolution.  Being  a  royaUst, 
he  retired  to  the  Britisli  army  when  war  was  declared.  His  fine  farm 
of  two  hundred  acres  was  confiscated,  and  subsequently  given  by  gov- 
ernment to  John  I'auldinjr,  for  his  service  as  one  of  the  three  distin- 
guished captors  of  Major  Andre,  the  British  spy. 

A  cherry-tree  brought  by  Dr.  Ilugcford  from  England,  and  which 
he  planted  in  his  garden,  is  still  standing  on  the  premises,  now  owned 
by  Jacob  Strang;  the  tree  bears  a  delicate,  white,  saccharine  cherry, 
which  by  grafts,  &c.,  have  been  widely  disseminated. 

This,  says  Dr.  J  as.  Fountain,  from  whom  I  obtained  the  materials 
of  this,  as  well  as  several  other  sketches,  is  a  kind  of  service  that  every 
physician  can  do,  and  thus  confer  a  benefit  on  posterity,  who  can  reap 
the  fruit  of  his  industry,  which,  as  in  this  instance,  may  long  outlive 
his  name. 

Dr.  Hugeford  was  probably  the  most  accomplished  physician  of  liLs 
day  in  this  country.  Except  the  meagre  sketch  which  has  been  given 
above,  his  biography,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  is  lost. 


Dr.  STANLY,  of  Cortlandtown,  was  cotemporary  with  Dr.  Huge- 
ford,  lie  emigrated  froin  Connecticut,  and  settled  in  Cortlandtown, 
at  precisely  what  date  is  not  known.  His  history  is  almost  entirely 
lost.  He  was  celebrated  for  his  great  caution;  he  carried  with  him 
his  scale  and  weights,  and  at  all  times  weighed  carefully  every  dose  of 
medicine  he  administered. 

He  had  one  son,  whom  he  educated  thoroughly  to  the  medical  pro- 
fession. Young  Dr.  Stanly  married  the  only  child  of  Richard  Currie, 
a  wealthy  farmer  of  this  county.  They  united  under  the  most  ausjti- 
cious  and  flattering  circumstances.  He  died  prematurely  of  brandy; 
his  wife,  of  opium;  leaving  a  large  family,  most  of  whom  are  in  indigent 
circumstances.  How  often  does  the  sun  usher  in  a  clear  and  beautiful 
morning,  and  set  iii  a  dark  and  lowering  sky!  Such  was  the  morning 
of  life  of  the  accomplished  young  Dr.  Stanly  and  his  tenderly-bred 
wife,  and  such  their  sad  fate,  even  before  life's  day  had  run  half  it? 
allotted  course. 


30 

Dr.  ELIAS  QUEREAU,  of  Yorktown,  was  born  in  the  City  of 
New  York;  the  precise  date  of  his  birth,  however,  I  have  been  unable 
to  learn.  He  pursued  his  medical  studies  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Huge- 
ford,  of  Cortlandtown.  During  the  early  period  of  the  Revolutionary 
war,  he  married  in  the  City  of  New  York,  where  he  engaged  in  prac- 
tice for  a  short  time. 

Owing  to  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country,  it  is  said  he  frequently 
changed  his  residence  and  field  of  practice.  Being  a  royalist,  he  em- 
barked for  St.  Johns,  Ca.,  with  other  royal  refugees;  he  soon  returned 
to  his  native  State,  in  consequence  of  the  extreme  inclemency  of  the 
Canadian  climate.  Dr.  Quereau  finally  settled  in  Yorktown,  in  this 
county,  Avhich  was  the  native  place  of  his  vdk,  where  he  continued  to 
reside  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  We  are  informed  that  the 
doctor  changed  his  location  fourteen  tunes. 

In  Yorktown  he  seems  to  have  commenced  anew.  He  joined  the 
Baptist  denomination,  and  became  an  active  member.  With  a  few 
others  he  built  a  church,  which,  under  the  charge  of  Elder  E.  Foun- 
tain, was  a  prosperous  society,  and  it  was  kept  together  forty  years 
by  their  united  aid,  and  continues  to  the  present  tune.  During  all 
this  long  period  Dr.  Quereau  practiced  medicine  successfully,  and  with 
much  credit  to  himself. 

He  was  a  modest,  quiet,  and  unassuming  man,  and  a  pious,  con- 
sistent, and  benevolent  Christian.  His  Sunday  earnings  he  invariably 
set  apart  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church,  believing  that,  as  his  duties  on 
that  sacred  day  were  labors  of  love  and  necessity,  he  had  no  right  to 
appropriate  the  avails  thereof  to  the  common  purposes  of  life.  He 
argued  that,  as  they  were  obtained  by  the  use  of  the  Lord's  time, 
they  must,  of  necessity,  be  devoted  to  the  advancement  of  His  king- 
dom. A  most  noble  example,  which  it  would  doubtless  be  well  for 
more  of  his  professional  brethren  to  follow. 

His  life  as  a  physician,  though  laborious,  was  truly  a  happy  one; 
so  calm,  so  mild,  so  obliging,  that  he  had  no  enemies.  The  venerable 
Dr.  James  Fountain  says,  although  living  in  his  neighborhood  many 
years,  he  never  heard  a  word  uttered  by  any  man  against  Dr.  Quereau  1 

"  In  misery's  darkcFt  cavern  known, 
His  u.«eful  can;  was  ever  nigh, 
Wlierc  hopeless  Angiiis'i  pour'd  iiis  groan  ; 
And  lonely  Want  rctir'd  to  die. 

"No  fiumnmns  mock'd  l)y  chill  delay, 
No  petty  gain  dii^dain'd  by  prMe, 
The  modest  waiils  of  ev'ry  day 
The  toil  of  ev'ry  day  8upi>licd. 


31 

"  nis  virtues  walk'd  tlicir  narrow  round, 
Nor  made  a  pause,  nor  Icit,  a  void  ; 
And  sure  th'  Eternal  Master  found 
The  single  talent  well  employ'd." 

He  died  in  his  eighty-sixth  year,  leaving  several  children  and  many 
friends  to  lament  his  loss. 

In  the  simple  narrative  of  this  man  we  have  an  example  as  im- 
pressive and  as  worthy  of  imitation  as  any  handed  down  to  us  by  his- 
tory. Living  in  an  huml)le  sphere,  and  in  a  somewhat  obscure  local- 
ity, his  many  virtues,  and  the  esteem  with  which  he  was  regarded 
throughout  a  long  life,  are  as  worthy  of  record,  and  the  example  as 
impressive  to  the  rising  generation,  as  that  of  an  individual  in  the 
most  elevated  position  within  tlie  gift  of  a  multitude.  Our  country 
and  our  profession  may  well  feel  pruiid  of  a  character  like  that  of  Dr. 
Qucreau. 


Dr.  EBENEZER  WHITE,  of  Yorktown,  was  the  son  of  Rev. 
Ebenezer  White,  of  Southampton,  L.  I.  He  was  born  in  the  lower 
part  of  Westchester  County,  in  the  year  1T44.  He  settled  in  York- 
town  a  short  time  before  the  Revolutionary  war,  and  took  a  deep  in- 
terest in  that  important  struggle.  He  was  also  much  interested  in 
politics  and  religion,  doubtless  at  a  sacrifice  of  progress  in  the  study 
of  medical  science.  He  carried  his  library  mainly  in  his  head  and 
saddle-bags,  and  practiced  only  a  routine  course  through  life.  In  politics 
he  was  so  successful  as  to  be  elected  State  Senator  for  one  term.  In 
religion  he  also  figured  conspicuously.  Belonging  to  the  Old  School 
Presbyterian  Chm'ch,  he,  with  the  pastor,  one  Silas  Constant,  a  shrewd 
Yankee,  undertook  to  change  the  government  to  the  Congregational 
form,  but  failing  in  this,  tliey  retired,  carrying  off  the  records  of  the 
old  church;  they  erected  a  new  house,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  old 
one;  this  little  offshoot  is  still  in  existence.* 

Dr.  White  died  March  8th,  1825,  aged  eighty-one  ycar.s,  leaving  a 
large  family  of  sons  and  daughters. 

"  Dr.  White,  of  Yorktown,"  says  Mr.  Bolton,  in  his  History  of  this 
county,  "  through  the  whole  course  of  the  Revolution  sustained  the 
character  of  a  patriot,  with  that  devotion  and  firmness  which  charac- 
terized the  many  at  that  eventful  period  of  our  history.     It  appears 

*  Dr.  James  Fountain,  of  Jeflerson  Valley,  furnished  the  above  statement. 


32 

that  the  enemy  made  several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  capture  this  dis- 
tinguished individual.  On  one  occasion  they  were  desirous  of  exchang- 
ing the  doctor  for  a  British  surgeon  theu  in  the  hands  of  the  Ameri- 
cans. To  effect  his  surprisal,  a  large  party  of  Ught  horse  were 
dispatched  to  Crompoud,  with  strict  orders  to  surround  his  dwelling, 
and  make  him  prisoner.  Some  kind  friend,  however,  gave  the  doctor 
timely  warning,  which  enabled  him  to  escape. 

"As  a  substitute  they  seized  upon  Dr.  James  Brewer,  who  resided 
in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  and  were  proceeding  home  with  their 
prisoner,  when,  passing  through  Stoney  Street,  they  were  fired  upon 
by  a  party  of  Americans  who  lay  concealed  behind  the  fences.  Dr. 
Brewer  received  a  mortal  wound,  and  expired  the  next  morning,  Kov. 
20th,  1180,  in  the  arms  of  Dr.  White,  who  had  thus  narrowly  escaped 
the  melancholy  fate  of  his  friend.  It  deserves  to  be  mentioned  that  he 
was  the  only  one  wounded  of  the  party.  Dr.  Brewer,  who  had  thus 
perished  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-nine,  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts, 
and  left  by  his  wife,  Hannah  Brewer,  four  sons  and  three  daughters. 
His  grandson  is  the  present  Dr.  James  Brewer,  of  Peekskill."  (I  have 
been  unable  to  learn  anything  of  Dr.  Brewer  here  referred  to.) 

"  Ebenezer  White,  M.D.,  died  8th  day  of  March,  1825,  leaving  issue, 
besides  Henry  above  mentioned,  Bartow;  Dr.  Ebenezer,  of  Somers- 
town,  (for  many  years  surrogate  of  the  county,  and  a  member  of  As- 
sembly;) Lewis,  of  Peoria;  James,  Theodosius,  of  Somers,  and  a 
daughter  Catharine." 


Dr.  BENJAMIN  BASSETT,  of  Peekskill.  The  following  sketch 
is  from  the  Illg/dand  Eagle,  of  April  10th,  1858,  published  in  Peeks- 
kill.  It  was  written  Ijy  Rev.  D.  L.  Marks,  of  the  M.  E.  Church  of 
that  village,  and  given  as  an  address  at  the  funeral  of  the  deceased. 

We  are  called  in  the  providence  of  God,  as  a  community,  to  the 
mournful  duty  of  committing  to  the  grave  the  mortal  remains  of  one 
long  and  favorably  known  among  us.  It  seems  to  us  fitting  that  on 
Buch  an  occasion  there  should  be  made  a  brief  record  of  the  man. 
This  duty  has  devolved  on  me.  For  many  of  the  facts  I  am  about  to 
present  in  this  hasty  sketch  I  am  indebted  to  a  member  of  the  Medi- 
cal Faculty,  viz.,  Dr.  Lee,  of  this  village. 

Dr.  Bassett  was  born  in  Derby,  Conn.,  December  Gth,  1784.  lie 
graduated  at  Yale  College,  in  1807,  in  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  age. 
His  medical  education  was  prosecuted  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
Btanccs  of  the  tunes.     He  received  the  instructions  of  the  professors  of 


83 

the  University  of  Peiin,  located  in  riiil;uk-li>Iiia.  The  celeljratcd  Dr8. 
Rusli,  Physic,  and  Dorsey  were  among  his  ineilical  instructors.  ITcre 
he  was  honored  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 

Soon  after  he  graduated  as  a  pliysician,  lie  began  the  i)ractice  of  his 
profession  in  Delaware  County,  in  this  State. 

Afterward  he  removed  to  Oswego  County,  where  he  continued  his 
j>ractice  in  a  sparse  population,  until  about  the  year  1826,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Yorktown,  in  this  county,  where  he  practiced  medicine  suc- 
cessfully about  three  years,  lie  removed  to  Pcekskill  in  1829.  From 
that  date  he  has  lived  and  practiced  medicine  in  our  midst,  endearing 
himself  to  a  large  number  of  friends  and  families,  until  the  21st  day 
of  March,  1858,  when,  as  the  shades  of  the  Sabbath  evening  came  upon 
us,  he  quietly  sank  into  the  arms  of  death,  and  his  spu'it  passed  to  the 
eternal  world. 

He  is  reported  to  have  borne  the  most  "  kind  and  fraternal  deport- 
ment towards  all  the  junior  members  of  the  profession,  and  to  have 
been  free  from  the  slightest  tinge  of  jealousy  or  ill  will,  and  ever  ready 
to  excuse  or  overlook  what  others  might  have  considered  as  an  infringe- 
ment on  his  rights  or  interests."  His  intercourse  with  all  the  members 
of  his  profession  is  said  to  have  been  marked  with  "  kindness  and  cour- 
tesy."    Hence,  "he  had  few  if  any  enemies  among  medical  men." 

The  estimation  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  i)rofession  was  evinced 
by  his  election  in  181G,  and  also  in  1841,  to  the  honorable  position  of 
President  of  the  "Westchester  County  Medical  Society."  In  the 
latter  year  he  delivered  an  address  before  the  Society  as  their  presi- 
dent, "  On  the  laws  of  epidemics  as  exhil)ited  in  those  that  had  pre- 
vailed in  the  county  the  preceding  twenty  years."  This  was  so  highly 
appreciated  by  the  Society  that  it  was  published  by  then*  order.  It  is 
still  preserved  in  a  medical  work,  vol.  ix.  of  the  first  series  of  the 
JVcw  York  Journal  of  MaUcinc,  p.  183,  and  is  worthy  of  the  place  it 
occupies.  It  is  classical  in  style,  rich  in  facts,  abounds  in  experience, 
and  every  line  evincing  the  closest  habits  of  thought,  and  a  highly  dis- 
criminating mind  imited  with  his  characteristic  humility  and  selfnlc- 
preciation.  As  he  stood  before  the  Society  as  their  president  to  ad- 
dress them,  the  first  sentence  he  uttered  assured  them  of  his  courtesy 
and  humility,  so  generally  characteristic  of  true  greatness.  "  Gentle- 
men," said  he,  "if  you  have  expected  from  your  president  to-tlay  a 
learned  treatise  on  any  branch  of  medical  science,  you  will  be  disa|>- 
pointed.  We  all  enjoy  in  common  the  same  facilities  for  accjuiring 
medical  knowledge,  and  many  of  you  proV)ably  improve  these  facilities 
more  than  I  do."  We  transfer  the  brief  introduction  to  that  address 
3 


34 

to  tins  sketch,  because  it  is  so  perfectly  characteristic  of  the  man. 
Men  of  real  merit  are  generally  men  of  true  humility.  Such  a  man 
was  our  esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Bassett. 

Dr.  Bassett  merited  and  occupied  a  prominent  position  as  a  physi- 
cian. A  member  of  the  medical  profession  remarked  of  him:  "That 
he  was  a  close  observer  both  of  the  phenomena  of  disease  and  of  the 
effect  of  medicine.  He  had  great  confidence  in  the  recuperative  power 
of  nature,  and  accordingly  resorted  to  no  liarsh  or  purturbating  reme- 
dies, but  when  promptness  and  decision  were  demanded,  he  was  not 
wanting."  During  the  greater  portion  of  his  life  his  vigorous  mind 
was  given  to  the  study  of  disease,  and  his  time  was  largely  occupied 
with  visiting  the  sick  and  watching  over  his  patients.  He  possessed 
more  than  ordinary  skill  in  his  profession. 

There  was  a  rich  and  noble  benevolence  which  strongly  marked  his 
character.  The  gratification  of  doing  good  seemed  to  be  a  much 
higher  compensation  for  untiring  labors  by  day  and  night  than  any 
other  which  he  received.  His  services  were  as  cheerfully  rendered  to 
the  poor  as  to  the  rich,  and  often,  like  the  healing  gifts  of  Christ,  they 
were  without  money  and  without  price.  Many  are  the  grateful  testi- 
monies given  of  this  fact,  and  there  are  among  us  not  a  few  who  have 
lost  in  his  death  an  invaluable  friend. 

He  would  have  accumulated  a  much  larger  patrimony  for  those 
whom  he  has  left  on  earth,  had  he  followed  his  profession  as  a  mere 
money-makmg  trade.  But  his  was  a  mind  and  a  heart  that  could  rise 
above  all  sordid  and  mercenary  motives,  and  he  has  left  his  memory 
engraved  on  many  grateful  hearts.  His  friends  and  family  have  re- 
ceived, and  will  keep  as  a  precious  treasure,  this  rich  legacy  of  a  good 
Tiamc  and  worthy  example  left  them. 

One  of  his  prominent  traits  of  character  was  that  of  closely  investi- 
gating any  subject  that  was  presented  to  his  attention,  before  coming 
to  any  decision  concerning  it.  Hence  he  was  never  hasty  nor  rash  in 
his  decisions.  This  doubtless  did  much  in  making  him  a  "cautious, 
careful  and  safe  practitioner  in  his  profession."  He  was  such  in  the 
estimation  of  medical  men,  and  in  the  estimation  of  the  community 
generally. 

Dr.  Bassett  was  most  emphatically  a  man  of  one  work;  and  a  man 
greatly  devoted  to  that  work.  He  gave  his  mind,  his  heart,  and  his 
time  to  his  profession,  and  followed  it  very  closely  for  the  benefit  of 
others.  He  was  unwearied  in  his  attentions  to  the  sick,  exhibiting  in 
the  sick  room,  where  as  a  pasttjr  we  have  often  found  him,  patience, 
kiuduess,  and  sympathy  to  the  allliclcd;  and  wlicn  death  liallled  all  his 


35 

skill,  and  claiiiu'd  his  paticiils  as  its  victims,  his  sympathies  were 
strouglj'  manifested  to  the  bereaved. 

He  seemed  uever  to  aim  at  any  worldly  display,  or  to  reach  a  high 
standard  of  wealth,  bnt  to  feel  perfectly  satisfied  with  a  moderate  com- 
petence. Hence,  with  great  simplicity  and  singleness  of  heart,  he 
pursncd  for  nearly  half  a  centnry  his  daily  employment,  a  stranger  to 
the  corroding  cares  and  anxieties  of  those  who  are  in  eager  pursuit  of 
wealth. 

Though  exposed  to  the  inclemencies  of  weather,  the  frequent  loss  of 
sleep,  and  to  irregularities  of  meals,  with  a  feeble  constitution,  such 
were  his  habits  of  life,  that  he  was  rarely  confined  by  illness,  and  it  is 
believed  never  with  serious  disease.  His  last  sickness  seemed  to  be 
more  the  exhaustion  of  his  vital  powers,  by  long-continued  labors,  than 
by  any  special  disease. 

He  literally  exhausted  life  in  the  practical  duties  of  his  profession. 
Even  when  he  had  reached  an  age  at  which  nature  needed  repose,  he 
was  frequently  seen  in  great  feebleness  going  to  visit  his  patients,  and 
found  administering  healing  remedies  to  others,  when  he  needed  some- 
thing to  support  sinking  nature  in  himself.  He  seemed  anxious  to  do 
good  as  long  as  he  had  any  strength  left.  After  often  saving  life,  and 
often  witnessing  death  in  a  great  variety  of  forms,  he  yielded  to  the 
righteous  decree  of  his  God,  and  gathered  up  his  feet  in  death.  Ho 
closed  his  eventful  life  in  his  own  residence,  in  the  village  of  Peekskill, 
lamented  by  a  grateful  community,  in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his 
age.  For  several  months  his  health  declined,  nature  gradually  yielded, 
and  the  light  of  his  life  was  extinguished  in  a  manner  which  rendered 
the  last  moment  almost  imperceptible.  There  lay  his  veneral^le  form, 
silent  and  motionless.  The  angel  had  come,  and  the  sph'it  had  de- 
parted. There  sat  his  aged  companion,  nearly  overcome  with  grief, 
left  almost  alone,  consoled  by  her  sous  and  her  Saviour  and  God. 
Friends  were  filled  with  silent  grief.  There  was  a  solemn  sadness 
where  he  had  so  long  resided.  Dr.  Bassett  had  gone  "  to  his  long 
home.'' 

In  his  last  sickness  he  evinced  great  clearness  of  mind,  and  much 
close  and  serious  thought  on  the  sulyect  of  religion.  His  attention  had 
previously  been  turned  to  this  all-important  subject,  and  at  a  former 
period  of  his  life  he  is  said  to  have  sought  the  mercy  of  his  God, 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  wrote  bitter  things  against  him- 
self because  he  had  not  come  out  openly,  and  in  a  more  public  man- 
ner; and  at  an  early  period  of  his  life  consecrated  himself  to  Cod,  and 
his  intlueucc  to  Christianity.     Jle  fully  affirmed  his  faith  in  all  the  great 


36 

• 

and  glorious  doctrines  of  the  Cliristiau  religion.  The  immortality  of 
the  soul  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body  were  referred  to  with  great 
decision  of  faith,  and  much  emotion  of  spirit. 

These  seemed  especially  to  occupy  his  mind  up  to  the  very  last  hours 
of  human  consciousness.  He  most  emphatically  declared  to  us, 
and  to  others,  that  he  had  no  hope  except  in  Jesus  Christ.  He  did 
not  trust  to  his  morality  of  life — to  his  long  and  sincere  devotion  to 
the  interests  of  others — nor  to  any  human  de})endencies,  but  only  in 
the  merits  of  the  woi'ld's  Redeemer.  He  made  his  own  arrangements 
for  his  funeral,  selected  the  place  for  his  burial,  and  the  clergymen 
whom  he  wished  to  address  the  living  on  the  day  of  his  interment;  and 
when  we  promised  him  that  these  desires  should  be  complied  with,  he 
spoke  with  great  feeling  and  affection  of  his  endeared  and  faithful  com- 
panion, and  of  his  children,  whom  he  committed  to  the  care  of  his 
Heavenly  Father.  He  wished  to  be  put  in  a  plain  coffin,  and  buried 
in  a  plain  and  Christian  manner.  Soon  after  receiving  assurances  that 
his  wishes  should  be  complied  with,  his  speech  failed,  and  he  Ijecame 
unconscious  of  what  was  transpiring  about  him,  and  in  a  few  hours 
passed  away  to  the  world  of  spirits. 

I  have  also  taken  from  the  same  paper  of  March  27th,  the  following 
eulogy,  written  by  Prof.  Chas.  A.  Lee,  on  the  life  and  character  of  Dr. 
Benjamin  Bassett:  An  aged  and  respectable  citizen  has  gone  from 
among  us.  Probably  there  is  no  reader  whose  eye  this  notice  may 
strike  Ijut  will  feel  that  sadness  and  grief  which  spring  from  the  loss  of 
one  in  whom  centers  a  strong  personal  interest,  on  learning  tliat  Dr. 
Benj.  Bassett  is  dead.  When  we  say  that  there  is  scarcely  a  family  in 
our  conununity  which  does  not  feel  almost  as  if  a  member  had  been  cut 
off,  scarcely  an  individual  who  does  not  mourn  for  him  as  a  departed 
friend — and  that  after  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  spent  in  the  ac- 
tive duties  of  his  profession  in  our  midst,  he  yielded  up  his  life  to  Him 
who  gave  it,  Avithout  an  enemy  in  the  world — honored  and  loved  by 
all  classes  of  society — we  need  say  but  little  more ;  these  simple  facts 
are  nobler  eulogies  than  any  we  can  pronounce,  for  they  stamp  him  as 
a  good,  useful  and  christian  man. 

Dr.  Bassett  belonged  emphatically  to  the  old  school,  New  Eng- 
landers  of  a  former  generation,  few  of  whom  still  survive  as  monuments 
of  their  time.  Graduating  at  Yale  College  in  1807,  a  classmate  of 
that  grand  old  theologian,  Dr.  Taylor — both  their  minds  partook  of 
that  rather  solid  than  ornamental  mould  characteristic  of  tliose  early 
days.  J?()uiid  together  by  those  peculiar  and  tender  ties  which  knit 
kindred  s])irits  in  the  formative  process  of  a  college  course — that  affec- 


37 

tion  was  as  warm  and  fresh  as  when  fifty  years  before  they  rode  out 
from  New  Haven,  each  to  launch  for  himself  upon  the  troubled  waters 
of  everyday  life — and  bidding"-  a  sad  g-ood-bye  to  old  associations  and 
to  each  other — a  scene  which  we  have  often  heard  Dr.  Bassctt  describe 
— the  future  Doctor  of  Divinity  turned  back  with  tearful  eyes  and  ex- 
claimed, while  the  future  physician,  overpowered  with  emotion,  echoed 
the  seitiment,  "thou  dearest  spot  on  this  earth,  may  the  memories 
which  cluster  around  thee  cling  to  us  forever;"  and  these  memories  ac- 
company ing-them  thus  through  after  years,  it  seemed  fitting  that  when 
one  had  departed  the  other  should  follow  to  join  him  in  the  future 
world,  there  never  to  separate  again.  There  were  many  points  of  re- 
semblance between  them — a  kind,  gentle  and  affectionate  disposition — 
an  abnegation  of  self — a  love  for  all  humanity— and  a  childlike  sim- 
plicity threw  an  indescribable  charm  around  each.  Mr.  Bassett's  in- 
nate modesty  prevented  him  from  acquiring  any  great  notority,  but 
did  not  circumscribe  the  sphere  of  his  usefulness.  His  name  will  ever 
be  cherished  by  those  who  came  in  contact  with  him,  and  whom  he 
attended  professionally  during  the  long  period  of  his  practice  in  this 
place.  No  man  ever  enjoyed  more  implicitly  the  entire  confidence  of 
his  patients.  So  great  was  this  faith,  that  to  many,  simply  his  })rcscnce 
in  the  sick  room  inspired  more  of  hope  than  any  saving  properties 
which  all  the  medicine  contained,  and  often  have  we  known  the  suf- 
ferer to  ascribe  such  efficacy  to  his  skill  and  prudence  that  the  very 
strength  of  the  belief  produced  the  result  desired. 

Not  only  to  the  homes  of  the  prosperous  did  he  carry  hope  and 
health,  but  to  the  poor  and  needy  his  services  were  as  freely  given  as 
they  were  freely  required,  never  asking  or  receiving  for  these  labors  of 
mercy  anything  more  than  that  gratitude  which  was  all  that  they  had 
to  bestow.  lie  was  a  fine  conversationalist,  and  possessed  an  exhaust- 
less  fund  of  humor,  and  an  immense  store  of  anecdote,  which  would 
lighten  up  the  gloomiest  apartment,  transform  the  expression  of  pain 
into  a  merry  smile,  and  cause  the  cheerless  visage  of  the  desponding 
to  beam,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  repress  it,  with  a  cheerfulness  which 
promised  the  speedy  approach  of  better  days  and  robust  strength. 
These  same  qualities  made  him  the  life  of  a  social  circle,  and  one  of 
those  genial  companions  with  whom  an  hour  spent  infuses  a  glow  and 
warmth  and  good-will  into  the  whole  nature,  which  drives  away  all 
gloomy  and  misanthropic  views,  and  makes  one  look  with  a  pleased 
and  kindly  eye  on  everybody  and  everything.  But  besides  his  integ- 
rity, which  was  so  i)ure  m  himself  that  lie  hardly  suspected  dishonesty 
in  others — his  single-mindedness,  which  caused  him  to  form  a  straight- 


38 

forward  and  mauly  opinion  on  every  subject — his  most  remarkable 
trait  was  a  universal  charity,  which  rendered  him  the  most  liberal  of 
men.  No  one  ever  heard  him  express  a  harsh  or  ungenerous  opinion 
of  his  neighbor;  no  one  ever  knew  him  hesitate  to  give  ample  credit 
where  it  was  due;  free  from  envy,  he  took  delight  in  the  success  of 
others:  towards  his  professional  brethren  he  always  expressed  the 
highest  regard;  if  it  was  a  difficult  and  dangerous  case,  he  was  the 
first  to  propose  a  consultation,  and  whoever  gained  the  glory,  he  ap- 
peared entirely  satisfied  if  only  the  patient  was  saved.  Thus  kiiu]  and 
gentle,  thoughtful  for  others,  careless  for  self,  a  useful  citizen,  a  valued 
friend,  an  unobtrusive  Christian — full  of  years  and  of  virtues,  he  has 
gone  to  his  rest;  sorrowfully  we  take  leave  of  him  in  closing  this  im- 
perfect tribute,  but  in  our  memory  he  is  cherished  forever. 

Dr.  P.  Stewart,  of  Peekskill,  says  that  Dr.  Bassett  wrote  an  article 
on  Epidemic  Dysentery  and  Intermittent  Fever,  which  was  published 
in  the  N.Y.  Medical  Journal  for  May,  1831,  which  shows  the  strong 
points  of  his  mental  character;  it  is  a  very  valuable  practical  treatise. 
He  also  wrote  about  the  same  time,  as  I  have  been  informed,  some 
interesting  articles  on  the  effects  of  sulphate  of  quinine,  but  where 
they  were  published  I  cannot  say.  In  his  whole  life  he  honored  his 
profession,  except  perhaps  in  one  particular,  viz.,  in  placing  too  low  an 
estimate  on  the  value  of  his  medical  services;  his  charges  w^ere  so 
small  that  he  was  unable  to  live  in  a  manner  suitable  to  a  man  of  his 
ability,  skill  and  position.  Until  within  the  last  few  years  of  his  life, 
he  felt  too  poor  to  avail  himself  of  the  means  of  professional  ini})rove- 
ment  that  he  desired,  and  ought  to  have  had;  and  when  his  circum- 
stances enabled  him  to  secure  these  advantages,  he  was  too  far  ad- 
vanced in  years  to  profit  by  them. 

Dr.  James  Fountain,  who  enjoyed  his  acquaintance  I'or  ujany  years, 
in  a  letter  written  to  me  some  time  previous  to  the  death  of  Dr.  Bas- 
sett, speaks  of  him  as  follows:  "  lie  was  a  well  read  and  accomplished 
physician;  he  possessed  a  strong  mind,  well  adapted  to  reasoning.  Dr. 
Bassett's  peculiarity  was  his  excessive  caution.  I  rcjcoUect  once  having 
been  sent  for  to  consult  with  liiin  in  a  case  of  typhoid  fever;  I  recom- 
mended a  powder  of  camiihdr  and  0|)ium;  the  doctor  was  delighted  to 
hear  Ihc  prescrii)ti(tn,  for  he  Imd  already  jireparcd  tlic  ])ovvd('r,  and 
had  held  it  between  his  tliinnb  and  linger  three  lioiu's,  fciiring  it  was 
not  quite  safe  to  venture  the  opium. 

'"I'lie  doctor  still  lives,  ))iit  lie  is  going  the  way  of  all  flesh,  after 
Hccming  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  profession,  and  a  nmltitude  of 
atquuinlances.     His  manner  was  ever  unobtrusive  and  luiostentatious." 


39 

In  six  weeks  tVdiii  tlie  time  the  above  was  written,  Dr.  Bassett  had 
departed  "  to  that  undiscovered  country  from  whence  no  traveler 
returns." 


Dr.  ELI  as  CORNELIUS,  of  Soraers,  was  a  native  of  Long  Island; 
he  served  in  the  capacity  of  surgeon's  mate  in  the  army  of  the 
American  Revolution.  After  the  close  of  the  war,  he  settled  in  the 
western  part  of  Somers,  where  he  practiced  his  profession  over  forty 
years  with  eminent  success  and  credit. 

During  the  Revolution  he  contracted  the  habit  of  smoking,  snuffing, 
and  tipling,  but,  contrary  to  the  generally  received  opinion,  he  was 
never  intoxicated  during  his  long  and  arduous  life. 

Dr.  James  Foimtain  says:  "Dr.  Cornelius  was  truly  a  pattern  phy- 
sician; with  a  very  limited  medical  education,  he  commenced  the  active 
duties  of  his  profession,  but  full  of  energy  and  ambition,  he  studied  and 
practiced  both  by  day  and  by  night.  He  kept  three  good  horses,  and 
rode  off  rapidly,  and  on  his  arrival  at  home  he  gave  his  horse  over  to 
his  groom,  and  went  directly  into  his  office,  and  there  he  spent  all  his 
available  time  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  or  in  the  compounding  of 
medicines. 

"He  availed  himself  of  every  means  of  information;  he  commenced 
taking  the  first  medical  periodical  ever  published  in  America,  viz., 
The  Medical  Repository,  and  ever  continued  to  read  it.  He  had  also  all 
the  principal  authors  of  his  day,  and  studied  them  thoroughly.  He 
very  wisely  avoided  engaging  in  politics  or  any  public  matters,  that 
are  so  apt  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  professional  man  from  the 
great  objects  of  his  calling.  Having  been  inspired  by  a  genuine  love, 
with  the  requisite  enthusiasm,  for  his  profession,  he  gave  it  his  undivid- 
ed attention,  and  the  whole  force  of  his  energies  and  talents  were 
made  subservient  to  it. 

"  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  years,  having  been  blessed  with  a 
large  family,  which  were  carefully  and  respectably  bred.  One  of  his 
sons  having  been  thoroughly  educated,  became  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated and  accomplished  divines  in  the  New  England  States. 

"  He  commenced  life  like  many  of  our  profession,  in  extreme  poverty ; 
but  honestly  acquired  what  very  few  of  the  devotees  of  the  healing 
art  have  been  able  to  do,  a  competency — having  left  for  his  heirs  an 
estate  of  nearly  fifty  thousand  dollars." 


40 

Dr.  WILLIAM  H.  SACKETT  was  born  at  Greenwich,  in  Con- 
necticut, in  the  year  1781.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Justus  Sackett, 
a  farmer  of  that  town.  Dr.  Sackett  was  a  gentleman  of  thorough  clas- 
sical education,  being  a  graduate  of  the  literary  department  of  Yale 
College.  He  pursued  his  medical  studies  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Perry, 
of  Ridgefield,  in  his  native  state.  Dr.  Nehemiah  Perry,  now  of  the 
same  place,  was  his  fellow  student.  He  settled  in  Bedford  in  the  year 
1805  or  '6,  being  full  of  youthful  ardor  and  ambition;  some  three 
years  after  he  married  the  daughter  of  Col.  Jesse  Holly,  of  that  place. 
His  mind  was  amply  stored  with  the  ancient  and  modern  literature  of 
the  profession.  He  commenced  his  studies  at  an  important  era  in  med- 
icine; a  period  of  transition  as  it  were;  new  and  brilliant  lights  were 
just  beaming  upon  the  hitherto  dark  and  obscure  theories  of  medicine ; 
Cullen,  Brown,  Darwin,  and  Rush  were  the  leading  spirits  of  the  day. 
Dr.  Sackett  carefully  studied  these,  and  indeed  all  others  of  his  time. 

He  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  perseverance  and  industry ;  he  pur- 
sued the  special  objects  of  his  calling  energetically,  both  day  and  night, 
and  on  all  possible  occasions.  He  possessed  a  strong  mind,  fruitful  in 
resources,  and  was  justly  esteemed  the  most  accomplished  physician  in 
the  county.  Uniting  the  several  qualities  of  mind  above  mentioned 
with  a  thorough  collegiate  education,  and  a  careful  medical  pupilage, 
he  soon  became  a  very  popular  physician,  and  was  universally  esteem- 
ed. It  is  probably  not  saying  too  much,  that  ho  was  regarded,  and 
still  is  in  memory,  as  the  pride  of  the  profession  in  that  portion  of  the 
county. 

He  was  very  prompt  in  business,  and  possessed  a  remarkably  cheer- 
ful and  fun-loving  disposition.  He  rode  on  horseback,  generally  upon 
a  gallop,  and  would  never  allow  the  messenger  to  arrive  first  at  the 
house  of  the  sick.  His  "gray  mare"  was  as  extensively  known  as 
himself.  As  every  great  military  character,  from  Alexander  the  Great 
to  General  AVorth,  has  had  his  favorite  horse,  which  have  received  hon- 
orable mention  in  history,  so  should  Dr.  Sackett's  "gray  mare"  be  as- 
sociated with  his  memory,  as  it  is  to  this  day  at  Bedford. 

Dr.  Sackett  was  the  preceptor  of  the  late  Dr.  Joscj)!!  Soribner,  of 
Tarrytown,  Dr.  Mead,  of  Illinois,  and  the  late  Dr.  Daily,  of  Tarry- 
town,  lie  possessed  a  nervo-sanguineous  temperament;  was  tall  and 
slender;  his  eyes  large,  blue  and  piercing.  He  loved  his  profession,  and 
fell  a  sacrifice  to  it.  The  whole  term  of  liis  practice  in  Bedford 
would  not  exceed  fifteen  years.  He  died  December  29tli,  1820,  in  the 
thirty-ninth  year  of  his  age.  Alas!  his  ambition,  his  energy,  his  devo- 
tion to  the  profession  which  he  so  much  loved,  resulted  in  his  prema- 


41 

ture  death;  he  died  in  the  priuio  of  life,  mid  in  the  midst  of  his  useful- 
ness. 

I  am  indebted  to  Drs.  J.  Foiuitain  and  Shove  for  the  materials  of 
the  above  sketch. 


Dr.  MATSON  smith,  of  New  Rochelle,  was  born  in  the  year 
1767,  in  Lyme,  Connecticut.  He  died  March  17th,  1845,  in  the  79th 
year  of  his  age.  The  following  is  extracted  from  the  published  dis- 
course of  Rev.  Gorham  D.  Abbott,  on  the  funeral  occasion  of  Dr. 
Smith.  Mr.  Abbott  says:  "In  the  course  of  his  education  he  passed 
two  years  at  Yale  College,  a  classmate  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nott,  Presi- 
dent of  Union  College.  But  his  health  failing,  he  returned  home  and 
studied  medicine  in  his  native  village,  with  Dr.  Samuel  Mather.  In 
1787,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty,  h(!  came  and  settled  in  New  Rochelle 
as  a  practicing  physician.  His  father  died  when  he  was  very  young; 
and  as  he  left  his  mother's  home  fifty -seven  years  ago,  to  fix  his  resi- 
dence in  this  place,  the  richest  patrimony  he  bore  was  a  devoted  Chris- 
tian widow's  blessing  and  prayers.  He  married  for  his  first  wife  the 
daughter  of  his  medical  instructor,  a  branch  of  the  family  of  that  name 
so  highly  honored  in  the  annals  of  New  England.  The  names  of  Drs. 
Increase  and  Cotton  Mather  will  be  remembered  as  long  as  Howard 
University  or  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  Boston  have  existence. 

"  Dr.  Smith  was  a  medical  licentiate  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  and 
for  several  years  President  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Westchester 
County.  His  professional  knowledge  and  skill  were  extensively  known 
and  higlily  appreciated  by  his  medical  brethren;  and,  in  consideration 
of  his  standing  as  a  medical  practitioner,  the  Regents  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  New  York,  some  years  since,  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  For  more  than  half  a  century  he  has 
been  identified  with  the  history  of  his  town  and  county,  not  only  in 
consequence  of  the  widely  extended  practice  to  which  he  was  called 
by  his  high  professional  attainments,  his  experience  and  skill,  but  by 
his  interest  and  aid  in  whatever  has  affected  the  moral  and  religious  in- 
terests of  nearly  three  generations  of  inhabitants. 

"  He  comnjenced  his  professional  career  by  taking  a  marked  and  de- 
cided stand  in  respect  to  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  of  temperance, 
aud  of  religion;  and  he  lived  to  see  in  the  history  of  his  own  family 
the  happy  fruits  of  his  long  course  of  uprightness,  integrity,  and  piety. 

"  He  filled  many  situations  of  responsibility,  confidence  aud  trust. 


42 

He  has  long  been  associated  with  the  great,  benevolent  and  philan- 
thropic institutions  of  his  day.  The  interests  of  the  Bible,  of  the 
Sabbath,  of  temperance,  of  morality  and  religion  in  our  own  land,  and 
in  the  uttermost  parts  of  earth,  have  ever  shared  his  labors,  benefac- 
tions and  prayers.  Whatever  has  concerned  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
well-being  of  mankind,  either  for  time  or  eternity,  has  found  a  friend  in 
hun." 

Rev.  Mr.  Abbott,  after  giving  a  detailed  account  of  Dr.  Smith's 
religious  experience  and  views  in  his  last  days  and  hours,  describes  his 
death  as  follows: 

"Early  in  the  forenoon  of  Monday  he  appeared  in  extreme  distress. 
I  said  softly  to  him,  '  Dr.  Smith,  if  you  still  feel  that  all  is  peace,  will 
you  please  to  give  us  a  sign  ?' 

"He  distinctly  did,  though  the  dying  hand  had  scarcely  life  remain- 
mg  to  obey  his  will. 

"  In  the  afternoon  every  indication  told  that  the  end  was  near.  His 
pulse  was  gone.  The  power  of  motion  was  gone.  The  hands  and  the 
head  had  assumed  their  last  position.  The  eye  had  ceased  to  look 
around  upon  any  earthly  object;  it  was  fixed  and  directed  to  Heaven. 
Every  line  and  every  feature  of  the  countenance  began  to  wear  the 
similitude  of  death.  All  gathered  around  his  bed  to  watch  the  termin- 
ation of  the  conflict  with  the  King  of  Terrors.  I  was  requested  once 
more  to  ask  the  question  if  he  recognized  us.  I  did  so.  There  was 
no  voice — no  sign.  He  was  in  the  midst  of  the  Jordan.  He  was  so 
far  from  our  shore,  that  he  could  make  no  answer  to  our  voice.  We 
could  only  commit  him  to  those  arms  which  could  bear  him  up  amid 
the  dee))est  waves,  and  receive  him  safely  on  the  other  side.  At  seven 
his  spirit  was  with  God. 

"  '  Night  was  his  time  for  death, 
When  all  around  was  peace, 
Calmly  to  yield  the  weary  breath, 
From  sin  and  suflering  cease; 
Think  of  Heaven's  bliss,  and  give  the  sign 
To  parting  friends.     Such  deatli  be  mine.' 

Montgomery. 

"  Such  were  the  closing  days  and  fmal  scenes  of  the  life  of  our  depart- 
ed brother." 

By  my  sjjecial  re(|ucst,  Prof.  Joseph  Mather  Smith,  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons  ii\  New  York  City,  has  pre] la red  tlic  following 
chaste  and  elegant  notice  of  his  father's  professional  life,  which  I  sliall 


48 

give  entire.  I  hope  it  will  not  be  tliouglit  tliat  I  have  given  undue 
length  and  prominence  to  the  sketch  of  Dr.  Matson  Smith,  when  it  is 
considc'red  that  he  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  distinguished  of 
the  physicians  of  the  county,  and  took  a  special  interest  in  this  Society, 
being  present,  and  having  been  elected  Secretary  of  its  first  meeting  in 
May,  1197.  I  would  gladly  give  each  of  the  sketches  equal  length, 
provided  the  lives  of  the  individuals  had  furnished  the  materials  for  it, 
and  that  the  facts  and  incidents  could  at  this  day  be  obtained. 

Although  Dr.  Smith  commenced  his  professional  life  at  New 
Rochelle,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty,  his  success  in  business  was  extra- 
ordinarily rapid.  Kor  did  he  fail  to  enlarge  his  practice  year  by  year, 
until  it  extended  over  most  of  the  southern  towns  of  the  county.  This 
almost  unexampled  prosperity  seems  to  have  resulted  from  his  prepos- 
sessing })ersonal  appearance,  his  decision  of  character,  his  ingratiating 
address,  and  the  rectitude  of  his  moral  and  professional  deportment. 
He  was  fortunate  in  early  securing  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
more  respectable  and  influential  of  the  people  among  whom  he  had 
settled  as  a  stranger,  and  especially  of  the  physicians  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. His  prudence  and  discretion  were  displayed  in  refraining  from 
actively  participating  in  the  exciting  and  often  turbulent  political  strifes 
so  comnion  at  the  close  of  the  last  and  the  comnieucement  of  the  pres- 
ent century.  Decided  and  uniform  in  his  political  sentiments,  a  patriot 
by  birth,  of  the  New  England  school,  he  expressed  his  opinions  with 
frankness,  but  iu  terms  so  respectful  and  void  of  offensiveness  to  his 
opponents,  tliat  he  never  alienated  their  friendly  regard.  While  thus 
industriously  performing  his  increasing  professional  duties,  he  enlarged 
the  circle  of  his  usefulness  by  aiding  to  advance  the  interests  of  popular 
education,  not  only  iu  the  elementary  and  solid,  but  in  the  higher  and 
classical  departments  of  learning.  Nor  was  he  slow  in  uniting  in  every 
project  which  tended  to  elevate  the  moral  tone  of  the  community  in 
which  he  lived;  a  community  which,  originally  composed  mostly  of 
Huguenots  and  Englishmen  of  orderly  and  religious  habits,  became 
sadly  degenerated  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  Such  was  especially 
the  case  throughout  that  portion  of  the  county  lying  between  the  boun- 
daries called  the  British  and  American  lines,  and  known  as  the  neutral 
grounds — a  territory  overrun  by  marauders  and  vagrants,  and  the 
scene  of  many  bloody  rencontres  between  the  contending  parties,  and 
from  which  many  of  the  best  portion  of  the  population  voluntarily 
exiled  themselves  until  after  the  return  of  peace.  But  the  influence 
of  Dr.  Smith  was  exerted  to  promote  the  accomplishment  of  a  higher 
purpose,  and  that  was,  such  a  reformation  as  Christianity  alone  can 


44 

effect.  His  endeavors  directed  to  this  end  were  attended  with  results 
as  satisfactory  perhaps  as  the  circumstances  of  the  times  would  permit. 

As  a  profession,  raedicme  was  regarded  by  Dr.  Smith,  next  to  that 
of  the  Christian  ministry,  as  the  noblest  of  human  pursuits.  Its  inher- 
ent dignity  and  benevolent  attributes  were  to  him  transparent  in  all 
its  aspects ;  and  it  was  in  the  labors  of  such  men  as  Boerhaave,  Syden- 
ham, Huxham,  and  CuUen  that  he  recognized  its  diversified  capabili- 
ties to  minister  to  human  happiness.  These  distinguished  physicians 
he  contemplated  as  models  of  what  medical  men  should  be ;  and  by 
those  who  knew  him  well,  it  will  not  perhaps  be  thought  too  partial  to 
say,  that  hLs  conception  of  a  virtuous,  humane  and  enlightened  physi- 
cian was  realized  in  his  own  character. 

Residing  in  a  country  district,  it  was  essential  to  his  success  that 
he  attend  ahke  to  the  several  departments  of  practical  medicine. 
Happily,  it  was  not  against  his  predilections  that  he  became  a  general 
practitioner.  Devoted  to  the  practice  of  physic  proper,  obstetrics  and 
surgery,  it  may  perhaps  be  said,  aside  from  some  of  the  rarer  and  more 
delicate  operations  of  surgery,  which  he  referred  to  special  experts, 
that  he  was  equally  skillful  in  these  departments.  With  his  experience 
enlarged  by  clinical  observation,  and  his  judgment  matured  by  reflec- 
tion, he  became  a  ripe  counsellor  to  his  professional  neighbors;  and  as 
such,  he  was  the  more  esteemed  on  account  of  his  courteous  deportment, 
his  respect  for  the  opinions  of  his  medical  brethren,  and  his  scrupulous 
care  to  avoid  everything  which,  in  utterance  or  action,  might  tend  to 
lessen  the  confidence  of  a  patient  in  the  skill  of  his  physician.  In  fact, 
so  strictly  and  conscientiously  were  the  principles  of  medical  ethics  ob- 
served by  him,  that  no  physician  hesitated  for  a  moment  to  meet  him 
at  the  l)edsidc  of  his  patient.  To  young  physicians  of  merit  he  was 
especially  friendly,  aiding  them  in  difficult  cases,  in  that  kind  and 
delicate  manner  which  could  not  fail  to  inspire  them  with  self-confidence, 
and  give  to  their  patients  the  assurance  that  their  medical  attendant 
was  worthy  of  their  regard. 

The  liberal  and  sagacious  views  of  Dr.  Smith,  in  respect  to  the 
hygienic  and  prophylactic  I'clations  of  the  medical  art,  were  strikingly 
illustrated  in  his  adoption  of  the  practice  of  vaccination  at  a  very  early 
period  after  its  introduction  into  this  country.  Convinced  by  his  own 
experiments  that  the  discovery  of  Jenner  was  the  greatest  boon  con- 
ferred on  humanity  by  medicine,  he  entered  heart  and  hand  into  the 
work  of  diffusing  its  benefits  in  the  comnnmity  in  which  he  lived,  taking 
great  pains  to  remove  the  doubts  of  those  whose  minds  wavered  in 
relation  to  its  value.     The  practice  of  vaccination,  through  the  agency 


45 

of  Dr.  Suiitli  and  a  low  of  his  (Hmtciiiporaries,  soon  hecaiiic  as  <^cneral 
ill  the  County  of  Westchester,  as  it  did  througli  the  influence  of  Drs. 
Yalciitiiie  Seaman,  Mitchell,  Miller,  Post,  Tlosack,  and  other  medical 
men  in  the  City  of  New  York.  AVith  these  eniiiient  physicians  he  had 
frequent  professional  intercourse,  and  with  them  he  efliciently  co-oper- 
ated in  the  attempt  to  exterminate  the  variolous  disease. 

Though  minute  in  his  study  of  the  ordinary  endemic  diseases  of 
the  southern  parts  of  the  county,  and  of  which,  if  the  writer  remem- 
bers correctly,  he  gave  an  account  in  an  annual  address,  delivered  be- 
fore the  County  Medical  Society,  Dr.  Smith  also  carefully  watched 
the  modiilcations  of  disease,  induced  by  atmospheric  influences.  The 
occurrence  of  new  and  rare  forms  of  epidemic  maladies  quickly  attract- 
ed his  notice;  and  the  one  which,  of  all  others,  during  his  long  profes- 
sional career  specially  engaged  his  attention,  was  the  epidemic  or  ty- 
phoid pneumonia,  which  prevailed  in  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States 
under  various  modifications,  in  1811,  '12,  and  '13,  and  which,  in  many 
places,  was  extensively  prevalent  and  mortal.  The  annals  of  that  dis- 
temper constituted  no  inconsiderable  i)art  of  the  original  American 
medical  literature  of  that  period.  To  the  stock  of  knowledge  of  the 
disease  Dr.  Smith  contributed  his  mite,  in  a  communication  to  Dr. 
Hosack,  entitled  "An  Account  of  a  Malignant  Epidemic  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  County  of  Westchester,  N.  Y.,  in  the  summer  of  1812;" 
a  communication  which  was  published  by  that  gentleman  in  the  third 
volume  of  the  Aimrican  Mcdiail  caul  Fhilosoplucnl  Rx-gistcr,  of  which 
he  was  the  leading  conductor.  The  sketch  given  by  Dr.  Smith  of  the 
prevalence  of  the  ejiidcraic,  and  of  its  symptomatology,  peculiarities, 
and  treatment,  exhibits  the  clearness  of  his  views  regarding  its  nature, 
and  of  the  remedies  reiiuired  in  its  treatment. 

Among  the  physicians  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  first  quarter 
of  the  present  century  in  establishing  and  maintaining  the  Westchester 
County  Medical  Society,  the  snliject  of  this  memoir  was  one  of  the 
foremost.  The  efforts  he  made  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  Society 
were  not  overlooked  by  his  associates;  and  the  proof  that  they  were 
not  so,  was  shown  in  his  election  to  its  presidency,  an  office  he  filled 
for  many  years;  and  it  is  well  remembered  that  nothing  which  did  not 
imperatively  claim  his  attention,  was  allowed  to  prevent  his  attend- 
ance at  its  stated  meetings.  Such  meetings  were  to  him  occasions  of 
delightful  intercour.se  with  his  professional  brethren,  and  of  profitable 
interchange  of  medical  intelligence.  And  it  must  be  added,  that  it 
was,  without  his  solicitation,  through  the  agency  of  this  Society  that, 
in  1830,  he  received  from  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State 
the  houorarv  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine. 


46 

In  bis  physical  developmeut,  Dr.  Smith  was  above  the  ordinary  f-tat- 
ure;  and  though  rather  delicate  and  valitudiuary  in  his  youth  and  early 
manhood,  yet,  after  entering  into  active  life,  and  forming  habits,  so 
far  as  his  avocations  would  admit,  the  most  conducive  to  health,  he 
became  muscular  and  robust;  and  with  the  exception  of  suffering  oc- 
casional vertigo,  and  a  few  attacks  of  acute  inflammatory  and  febrile 
disease,  he  enjoyed  a  high  degree  of  health  until  within  a  year  or  two 
before  his  death.  For  upwards  of  thirty  years  he  spent  no  small 
share  of  his  time  on  horseback,  traveling  over  hills  and  valleys,  by 
day  and  by  night,  in  heat  and  cold,  in  storm  and  sunshine,  answering 
to  every  demand  of  duty,  whether  professional  or  otherwise.  As  old 
age  approached,  he,  for  the  most  part,  exchanged  the  saddle  for  the 
carriage,  and  deemed  it  justifiable  to  abridge  his  labors,  by  generally 
declining  to  attend  to  the  calls  for  his  services  at  night.  At  a  later 
period  he  felt  the  necessity  of  withdrawing  from  general  practice, 
though  he  still  maintained  his  position  as  a  consulting  physician.  In 
his  17  th  year  he  began  to  experience,  in  addition  to  a  troublesome 
constipation,  which  had  existed  for  several  years,  a  dysuria,  which, 
after  some  months,  was  followed  by  a  retention  of  urine — a  condition 
from  which  relief  was  obtained  only  by  instrumental  means.  This  in- 
firmity, so  common  in  old  age,  gradually  impau'cd  his  general  health, 
and  being  recognized  as  an  enlargement  of  the  prostate  gland,  with 
the  usual  concomitant  disorder  of  the  bladder,  was  of  course  regarded 
as  incurable.  The  natural  progress  of  the  disorder,  and  the  irritation 
of  the  diseased  parts,  caused  or  exasperated  by  the  necessary  intro- 
duction of  the  catheter,  gradually  induced  a  collapse,  which  terminat- 
ed his  life  on  the  llth  of  March,  1845. 

A  brief  sketch  of  his  life,  and  a  narrative  of  the  calm,  resigned,  and 
devotional  state  of  his  mind  as  he  approached  the  grave,  was  prepared 
and  delivered  as  a  funeral  address,  by  his  excellent  friend,  the  Rev. 
Gorham  D.  Abbott,  and  which  is  preserved  in  his  family,  hi  i)rint,  as 
a  worthy  memorial  of  his  professional  and  Christian  character. 


Dr.  STEPHEN  ALLEN  HART  was  born  at  Shrub  Oak,  West- 
chester County,  New  York,  June  11th,  1820.  He  commenced  the 
study  of  UK'dicine  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  John  Collett,  in  March, 
1843.  Ho  is  said  to  have  pursued  the  study  with  much  zeal  and  ar- 
dor. After  having  attended  two  full  courses  of  lectures  at  the  Uni- 
versity Medical  College,  in  New  York  City,  he  received  tin;  (Icl'tci!  of 
MD.  in  the  spring  of  184G. 


47 

He  iinnicdiiitcly  entered  ui)on  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  York- 
town,  in  liis  native  county,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  tlie  time 
of  his  deatli,  February  22d,  1849,  tet.  29. 

He  left  a  wife  and  two  cliildron  to  mourn  his  premature  death. 

Dr.  Hart  gave  promise  of  becoming  a  prominent  member  of  his  pro- 
fession, possessing  as  he  did  all  the  requisites  wliich  should  character- 
ize the  good  physician — amiability,  benevolence,  intelligence,  ambition, 
and  integrity.  But  he  failed  to  enjoy  what  it  was  his  aim  to  secure 
to  others,  viz.,  health  and  longevity. 


Dr.  GEORGE  C.  FINCH.  The  following  biographical  sketch  of 
Dr.  Finch  was  prepared  ))y  his  friend  and  preceptor,  Seth  Shove,  M. 
D.,  and  read  June  2d,  1857,  before  the  Westchester  County  Medical 
Society,  in 'accordance  with  a  previous  resolution. 

It  was  referred  to  the  committee  of  publication;  in  consequence  of 
the  committee  not  having  C(Mitinued  the  publication  of  their  prccsed- 
ings,  this  beautiful  eulogy  of  Dr.  Finch  has  remained  in  manuscript  un- 
til the  i)resent. 

Dr.  Shove  has  kindly  consented,  with  the  approval  of  the  commit- 
tee, to  permit  it  to  be  published  with  the  other  biographical  sketches 
of  deceased  physicians  of  this  county.  This,  and  the  sketches  of  Drs. 
Smith  and  Bassett,  are  rather  more  lengthy  than  the  original  design 
of  these  articles  contemplated;  yet,  since  the  compiler  has  failed  to  ol> 
tain  any  information  in  relation  to  many  physicians  that  have  lived  and 
(lied  in  this  county,  he  felt  justified  in  introducing  a  more  extended  bi- 
ogra})hy  of  individuals  where  it  could  be  furnished;  also  for  the  reason 
that,  in  either  of  the  above  specified  cases,  particularly  the  present,  it 
would  have  been  unjust  to  the  author  of  the  sketch  to  attempt  its 
abridgment. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: 

Ul)on  the  record  of  your  Society's  Transactions  at  its  last  annual 
meeting  is  found  a  resolution,  requesting  me  to  prepare  a  biographical 
sketch  of  the  late  Dr.  Finch,  one  of  our  fellow  members,  to  be  read  at 
this  meeting. 

To  a  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  mover  of  that  resolution,  of  my 
long  and  intimate  acquaintance,  and  friendly  social  and  professional 
relations  with  the  deceased,  I  am  probably  indebted  for  the  honor 
of  submitting  this  brief  sketch  of  our  lamented  friend  and  brother. 


48 

The  gratification  of  responding  to  a  sense  of  duty  imposed  by  this 
relation,  is  mingled  with  regret  of  my  inability  to  do  justice  to  the 
memory  of  one  thus  fallen,  ere  he  had  arrived  at  the  meridian  of  his 
usefulness;  and  whom,  had  such  an  event  been  my  allotment  instead  of 
his,  I  should  have  considered  it  an  honor  to  look  upon,  prospectively, 
as  successor  in  my  field  of  labor. 

Dr.  George  C.  Finch  was  born  April  6th,  1817,  at  what  is 
now  Croton  Falls,  in  the  town  of  IS^orth  Salem,  Westchester  County, 
N.Y.,  where  his  parents  still  reside,  and  where  his  father,  Silas  Finch, 
Esq.,  has  long  been  known  as  a  prominent  and  highly  respectable  cit- 
izen and  magistrate.  His  mother  was  Sarah  Crosby,  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  Darius  Crosby,  of  Westchester  County,  for  three  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Lower  House  of  the  Assembly,  and  for  four,  of  the  Senate  of 
this  State.  She  is  a  lady  of  exalted  worth,  to  whom  the  son  was 
doubtless  much  iudel)ted  for  his  many  excellent  traits  of  character. 
They  had  but  two  children;  the  younger,  a  surviving  daughter,  wh(» 
remains,  the  solace  of  her  otherwise  disconsolate  parents,  at  her  loved 
but  saddened  home. 

In  his  rudimentary  studies  the  doctor  discovered  early  signs  of  a 
taste  for  learning;  and  his  parents,  possessed  of  ample  means,  resolved 
to  spare  no  labor  or  expense  in  his  education.  At  the  age  of  ten  he 
was  placed  at  the  grammar  school  of  Mr.  Minor,  of  South  East,  where 
he  remained  a  considerable  time,  and  was  afterwards  a  member  of  the 
North  Salem  Academy,  pursuing  his  studies  with  great  diligence,  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Jelliflf.  He  was  subsequently  trans- 
ferred to  Mount  Pleasant  Academy,  of  which  the  Rev.  Mr.  Prime  was 
principal,  where  lie  prepared  for  Union  College,  at  which  he  graduated 
on  the  9th  of  August,  1839,  having  sustained  and  ended  his  collegiate 
course  in  a  manner  which  does  him  great  honor.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  if  we  may  judge  by  an  intimation 
derived  from  a  private  source,  we  should  conclude  that  he  Avas  a  favor- 
ite of  the  Faculty  and  Alumni  of  the  Institution;  certain  it  is  that  he 
enjoyed  ever  after  a  very  enviable  friendship  and  intimacy  with  [>ersons 
of  distinguished  eminence,  who  were  graduates  of  the  same  institution. 
To  the  ordinary  classical  attainments,  he  added  a  knowledge  of  tlie 
French  Language. 

Having  elected  the  profession  of  medicine,  and  being  thus  prepared 
to  study  it  with  facility,  he  entered  the  ollice  of  tlie  writer  of  this 
sketch,  where  he  remained  during  his  term  of  study,  excepting  that 
portion  devoted  to  lectures  at  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  at  which 
he  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  the  spring  of  1841. 


49 

Being;  desirous  of  cultivating  a  professional  acquaintance,  and  secur- 
ing the  instructions  of  the  al)lc  professors  of  the  institutions  of  his 
native  State,  he  employed  the  spring  terra  in  the  medical  department 
of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  in  the  hospitals,  &c., 
after  which  he  returned  to  associate  himself,  for  a  time,  with  his  first 
preceptor,  in  order  to  l)ecome  familiar  with  the  details  of  private 
practice. 

Thus  intellectually  qualified  to  enter  uj)i)n  tlie  active  duties  of  a 
profession  he  seemed  destined  to  honor,  hut  of  slender  physical  consti- 
tution, he  yielded  to  the  promptings  of  parental  choice,  and  opened  an 
office  in  his  native  village,  in  face  of  the  oft-repeated  saying,  that  "A 
prophet  is  not  without  honor,  save  in  his  own  country." 

Here  he  found  himself  surrounded  by  a  large  circle  of  aecjuaintan- 
ces  and  friends,  who  esteemed  him  for  his  moral  and  intellertual  worth; 
but  it  rcfjuired  time  to  secure  their  entire  confidence  in  this  newly- 
acquired  relation  as  their  medical  adviser. 

In  his  early  professional  aspirations,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
doctor  desired  to  shine,  but  not  in  the  dark  shade  which  calumny 
might  cast  over  the  reputation  of  his  neighboring  physicians.  He 
seemed  only  ambitious  to  acquire  a  reputation  for  usefulness,  and  to 
deserve  that  reputation.  He  sought  real  character,  and  laid  the 
foundation  in  sincerity  and  upright  intent.  How  well  he  succeeded, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that,  as  his  medical  abilities  came  to  be 
appreciated,  he  gradually  acquired  a  very  respectable  practice,  and  a 
large  share  of  popular  esteem,  which  he  ever  after  enjoyed;  both  of 
which  might  have  been  increased  indefinitely  had  his  physical  powers 
been  equal  to  Jiis  mental  capabilities.  These  facts  are  very  creditable 
to  the  doctor,  i)articularly  as  Croton  Falls  was  a  new  field  of  labor, 
divided  among  old  and  estaljlished  practitioners. 

It  is  believed  that,  during  his  twelve  years'  jjrofessional  duties,  he 
never  lost  one  real  friend;  and  if  ill  health  sometimes  compelled  him 
to  delay  his  visits,  or  fail  in  his  attentions  to  the  sick, 

"  Consider  wlij-  the  change  was  wrought, 
You'll  find  it  his  misfortune,  not  his  fault." 

Perhaps  the  most  rernarkal)le  features  in  the  doctor's  mental  con- 
stitution were  quickness  of  percei)tion,  accurate  discrimination,  and 
deliberative  judgment,  regulated  by  thorough  knowledge  of  his  profes- 
sion. By  the  exercise  of  these  qualities  he  was  highly  successful  in 
his  treatment. 

As  a  man,  he  was  social  and  honest;  as  a  friend,  cordial,  sincere- 
4 


50 

and  faithful;  as  a  physiciau,  humane  and  skillful.  In  the  strictest 
sense  of  the  term,  he  was  a  gentleman;  but  nowhere  did  he  appear  to 
better  advantage  than  at  the  bed-side  of  his  patient.  Mild  and  amia- 
ble in  disposition,  urbane  in  manners,  dignified  in  deportment,  on  his 
bland  and  cheerful  countenance  the  ever-kindling  smUe  beckoned  the 
sick  and  desponding  to  hope,  trust  and  confidence;  nor  was  that  confi- 
dence abused  by  selfish  dissimulation.  If  his  patient  or  the  friends 
either  needed  or  desired  a  consultation,  it  was  enough. 

In  his  relations  to  other  physicians,  he  was  modest  and  complaisant, 
Init  highly  sensible  to  any  infraction  of  established  rules  of  etiquette 
or  ethics,  and  was  sure  to  meet  such  dereliction  with  indignant  reserve 
and  professional  non-intercourse. 

He  was  opposed  to  every  species  of  quackery,  and  to  anything  which 
bears  its  semblance.  Even  the  obtrusive  pretences  of  the  Hahnema- 
nean  delusion  could  not  captivate  his  settled  and  invulnerable  princi- 
ples. When  invited  to  the  house  of  his  particular  friend,  to  consult 
with  a  distinguished  leader  in  homoeopathy,  who  had  been  sent  for  to 
see  his  patient,  he  replied,  apparently  against  his  own  interest:  "I 
would  be  pleased  to  meet  with  Dr.  J.  as  an  old  fi'iend  and  preceptor, 
h^U  not  as  a  p/iysician." 

The  delicacy  of  his  constitution  rendering  liim  unable  to  endure  the 
fatigue  of  a  laborious  country  practice,  especially  in  the  night,  and  in 
bad  weather,  he  at  one  time  conceived  the  idea  of  abandoning  his  pro- 
fession, at  least  in  part.  This,  together  with  a  desire  to  be  useful  to 
the  public,  might  have  induced  him  to  yield  to  the  solicitations  of  liis 
friends,  and  he  was  elected  supervisor  of  his  town,  wliich  office  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  for  six  consecutive  years.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
was  one  of  the  committee  for  erecting  the  new  pubhc  County 
Buildings.     In  1853  he  represented  his  district  in  the  State  Assembly. 

In  all  these  relations  he  discharged  his  (jfficial  duties  with  great 
fidelity,  and  with  entire  satisfaction  to  his  constituents. 

In  the  latter  part  of  tlie  summer  of  1853  he  had  a  severe  attack 
of  fever,  from  which  he  slowly  recovered,  but  with  great  difficulty. 
During  the  two  succeeding  years  his  health,  though  feeble,  was  such 
as  to  ena))lc  liim  to  travel  a  little,  enjoy  the  society  of  his  friends,  and 
occasionally  to  visit  the  sick  in  his  innnediate  neighborhood;  indeed, 
his  physician  entertained  hopes  of  his  ultimate  recovery.  But  in  the 
fall  of  1855  slight  cough  and  fever  indicated  the  hisidious  approach 
of  pulmonary  disease,  which  terminated  his  existence  on  the  28th  of 
March,  1850,  in  his  30th  year. 

lie  was  not  a  member  of  any  religious  denomination,  but  a  liberal 


51 

supporter  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  which  he  regularly  attended 
when  not  prevented  by  other  duties,  and  for  which  he  entertained  a 
decided  preference.  In  his  last  sickness  he  received  the  ordinances  of 
the  church,  and  professed  his  faith  in  the  Saviour. 

In  the  life  of  Dr.  Finch  we  have  a  conspicuous  example  of  private, 
public,  and  professional  excellence,  worthy  the  imitation  of  all  who, 
like  him,  would  live  esteemed,  honored  and  beloved,  and  who,  like 
him,  would  die  lamented  by  all  who  knew  him. 


Dk.  henry  white,  of  Yorktown,  was  born  August  31st,  1781. 
He  was  the  sou  of  Dr.  Ebcnezer  White,  a  sketch  of  whose  life  will  be 
found  in  these  memoirs.  Having  received  a  good  common  English 
education  for  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  he  commenced  the  study  of 
medicine  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  under  the  tuition  of  his  father.  In 
the  fall  and  winter  of  1802  he  attended  the  medical  lectures  at 
Columbia  College,  in  New  York  City. 

In  1803  he  effected  a  copartnership  with  Dr.  Joshua  Secor,  in  the 
City  of  New  York,  to  practice  medicine  in  connection  with  a  drug 
store.  The  same  year,  however,  he  returned  to  his  father,  preferring 
country  to  city  practice. 

In  1804  he  went  to  Hackensack,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  and  en- 
gaged in  practice;  but  not  feeling  encouraged  with  the  location, 
again  returned  to  his  native  place.  In  the  same  year  he  married  a 
daughter  of  l\ev.  Silas  Constant;  their  matrimonial  alliance  was  hap- 
py, but  l)ricf;  in  about  two  years  he  was  called  to  mourn  the  loss  of 
his  much  beloved  wife.  In  the  year  1809  he  was  elected  delegate  of 
this  Society,  to  the  State  Medical  Society,  for  a  term  of  four  years. 
In  1816  he  married  the  widow  of  the  late  Dr.  Stephen  Fowler,  of 
New  Castle,  in  this  county;  she  is  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Ehsha  Belcher, 
whose  biography  has  l)ecn  given.  Having  for  several  years  been  sur- 
rogate of  the  county,  in  1823  he  became  one  of  the  Judges  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which  office  he  held  for  many  years.  He 
took  an  active  interest  in  all  the  great  religious  and  moral  enterprises 
of  his  time;  Bible,  temperance,  anti-slavery,  tract,  Sabbath-school,  and 
other  societies  received  his  encouragement,  and  generally  found  in 
him  an  earnest  and  efficient  officer.  Indeed,  so  much  of  his  time  was 
devoted  to  these  engagements,  that  he  could  hardly  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  practicing  physicians  of  our  county,  for  many  years  of  his  life. 
He  was  a  man  possessed  of  noble  sentiments  and  undoubted  veracity. 


52 

Punctuality  was  one  of  his  prominent  traits;  it  was  bis  rule  never  to 
let  any  one  suffer  by  his  neglect  or  procrastination.  He  was  very 
scrupulous  in  his  observance  of  the  sacred  Sabbath ;  to  him  it  was  a 
period  of  delight — a  day  of  holy  rest;  he  would  never  permit  secular 
conversation,  or  the  reading  of  secular  papers  or  books,  on  that  day. 

He  was  very  hospitable,  and  took  great  pleasure  in  entertaining 
clergymen  in  particular. 

Dr.  White  continued  the  general  practice  of  medicine  in  his  native 
town  until  about  the  year  1840;  after  which,  he  merely  attended  upon 
the  sick  as  a  consulting  physician. 

He  died  of  congestion  of  the  lungs,  in  November,  185t,  aged  sev- 
enty-six years. 

With  these  simple,  brief,  and  imperfect  sketches  of  our  deceased 
brethren,  my  present  labor  of  love  will  cease.     I  will  therefore 

"  No  further  seek  their  merits  to  disclose, 

Or  dra\Y  their  frailties  from  their  dread  abode; 
(Tiiere  they  alike  in  trembling  hope  repose,) 
The  bosom  of  their  Father  and  their  God.'" 

I  had  hoped  to  obtain  an  account  of  several  others,  at  least  equally 
worthy  of  mention  as  those  included  in  these  sketches;  I  have  failed, 
however,  in  obtaining  the  required  materials.  I  shall,  therefore,  con- 
sole myself  with  the  hope  that  another,  with  more  zeal,  energy,  and 
ability,  may  commence  the  work  anew;  and  should  these  sketches 
prove  serviceable  in  rendering  such  an  effort  more  easy  and  complete, 
I  shall  feel  amply  repaid  for  the  time  bestowed  on  them. 

May  the  members  of  this  Society,  and  all  who  may  chance  to  read 
these  simple  narratives,  be  stimulated  to  increased  exertions  to  elevate 
their  intellectual,  i)rofessional,  moral,  and  religious  character  to  a  po- 
sition which  shall  justly  entitle  them  to  be  held  up  as  exami)les  of  the 
truly  good  physician.  With  this  nol^le  ol)jert  in  view,  let  us  lie  dili- 
gent and  lose  no  time,  for  all  should 

"Remember,  life  is  bnt  a  shadow, 
Its  dale  the  intermediate  breath  we  draw; 
Ten  tliousand  accidents  in  ambusli  lie. 
To  cnisb  tlie  frail  and  fickle  tenement. 
Which,  like  the  brittle  hour-glass  measuring  time, 
Is  often  broke  ore  half  its  sands  are  run." 


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